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Basic knowledge of European Tax Law This concise handbook has become a traditional instrument for gaining basic knowledge of European tax law with emphasis on direct taxes. It is directed at students, experienced international tax specialists with little knowledge of European law, European law specialists and non-Europeans who deal with Europe for business or academic reasons and need to understand the foundations of European tax law. Moreover, this book can be useful to academics without a legal background in approaching technical issues raised by European Union tax law, as well as give inspiration to the most experienced European direct tax law experts. The eighth edition adds new updates on the most essential changes and new case law of the CJEU in the field of European direct taxation. Furthermore, due to its particular importance, the EU Global Minimum Tax Directive is now covered in a separate chapter.

"The interactions between the rules of the founding Treaties, the general principles of EU law, fundamental rights and the legal acts of the EU institutions are examined in both hierarchical and horizontal relationships. With regard to hierarchical relationships, it is demonstrated that the Court of Justice applies a low standard in substantively reviewing the compatibility of secondary law with primary law and it is argued here that a stricter review would be necessary both as a constitutional guarantee and a reinforcement of the internal market vis-à-vis EU legislation. In the field of taxation, where the unanimity rule for the adoption of EU legislation has resulted in some dubious compromises in the existing directives, a meaningful review would be particularly necessary. As regards horizontal relationships, a comparison is provided of the methods of analysis conducted by the EU Courts under the free movement provisions and the State aid rules when applying them to national tax measures. The analysis shows a gradual convergence of these methods. It is suggested that the ensuing overlaps between the two regimes should be resolved by perceiving the State aid rules as general rules over which the more specific free movement provisions prevail."--