Article: Analysis of the (In)compatibility of Digital Services Taxes With State Aid Rules

Abstract

After the recent agreements at a global level, some Member States of the European Union have paused their plans for Digital Services Taxes. However, others have decided to move forward with them as the global political agreement reached, while encouraging, has not been implemented yet. Therefore, it is still relevant to understand the nature of such taxes and, more importantly in the context of the EU, their possible (in)compatibility with state aid rules. The purpose of this article is to shed light into these measures in a manner that encompasses all possible taxes. To establish the possible incompatibility of the taxes, an analysis is made passing through all the conditions for a measure to be considered as state aid and giving particular importance to the notion of selective advantage, which will be the determining factor if the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ever must pronounce itself on this matter. Digital Services Taxes, State aid, Fiscal State aid, Selective Advantage, European Union, European Commission, Court of Justice of the European Union, Unilateral measures, OECD