European Court of Justice says fiscal reforms of 2002 are illegal

(Photo: Cédric Puisney)

GIBRALTAR (Europa Sur) The European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared yesterday that the fiscal reforms presented by Gibraltar are illegal as they are incompatible with EC law. However, this will have no practical  impact on the Rock because Gibraltar has a whole new set of fiscal regulations that came into effect on January 2 this year. The latter, presented in 2008 and as opposed to the regulations presented in 2002, makes no distinction between offshore and onshore companies in terms of taxes. The 2002 version favoured one over the other, whereas now both types pay 10% tax. (You can read an extensive report by Brian Ryes on this subject on the Gibraltar Chronicle website.)