Our Insights
A/S Bevola Applies Marks & Spencer to the Losses of a Foreign Permanent Establishment
In A/S Bevola and Jens W. Trock ApS v Skatteministeriet (C-650/16) the CJEU applied its findings in Marks & Spencer (C-446/03) to the losses of a foreign permanent establishment, and confirmed that such losses can be deducted from the profits of a parent company based in a different Member State.
A/S Bevola, a Danish incorporated company, had incurred losses in its Finnish establishment which it wanted to deduct from its taxable income in Denmark, but this was refused by the Danish tax authorities. The question before the CJEU was whether Danish law breached freedom of establishment by not allowing the deduction of losses of a non-Danish permanent establishment.
The CJEU held that there was a difference in treatment between a Danish company with a foreign permanent establishment and one with a Danish permanent establishment. This difference in treatment amounted to a restriction on the freedom of establishment as the two situations were objectively comparable. The court observed that the decision in Marks & Spencer on the losses of foreign subsidiaries was also applicable to the definitive losses of permanent establishments. It was contrary to EU law to exclude the possibility for a resident parent company of deducting losses incurred by its non-resident subsidiary, where the subsidiary had exhausted the possibilities of having those losses taken into account in its state of establishment.
This article appears in the JHA June 2018 Tax Newsletter, which also features:
- Fidelity Funds: Danish Withholding Tax on Dividends Breaches EU Law
- Hornbach-Baumarkt v Finanzamt Landau: German Transfer Pricing Legislation Is Compatible with Freedom of Establishment


Our Insights

Case note: Lynton Exports (Alsager) Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2022] UKFTT 00224 (TC)
As HMRC continue to apply the Kittel principle to increasing numbers of industries and businesses, taxpayers need to be vigilant about evidential requirements that HMRC must fulfil in order to discharge their burden of proof. Read JHA’s latest insight into the First-tier Tribunal’s decision in Lynton Exports (Alsager) Ltd v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2022] UKFTT 00224 (TC).
If you require any further information about the Kittel, Mecsek, and Ablessio principles, or any other allegations by HMRC of fraud or fraudulent abuse, please contact Iain MacWhannell (imw@jha.com).

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The following is an article written by David Bedenham about HMRC’s wide-ranging application of the ‘Kittel principle’. The current focus appears to very much be on the labour supply industry and the allegation of ‘Mini Umbrella Company Fraud’ (or ‘MUC Fraud’). This article highlights the need for taxpayers to get specialist advice at an early stage when faced with a Kittel decision. If you have any queries about Kittel-related issues or similar denials of input VAT or assessments to VAT, please contact Iain MacWhannell (imw@jha.com).
