ECJ keeps EU officials' gift tax in home state despite later move

The Court of Justice has ruled that the tax-domicile fiction protecting European Union officials covers gift taxEuropa, and that an official keeps that protection even after moving for personal reasons to a Member State other than the one where they workEuropa. In its judgment of 15 October 2026Europa in Case C-275/25Europa (Kolwager)Europa, the First Chamber answered two questions from Germany's Bundesfinanzhof about the first sentence of the first paragraph of Article 13 of Protocol No 7Europa on the privileges and immunities of the European Union.

The dispute concerned A, a member of staff of the European Investment Bank since 1995, to which Protocol No 7 applies by virtue of its Article 21Europa. A moved from Austria to Luxembourg on taking up his duties, then moved to Germany in 2010 after his marriage while keeping his Luxembourg flat. In 2013 he received a gift of EUR 300,000 from his brother, who lives in Austria. By a decision of 13 April 2017 the German tax authority assessed EUR 56,000 of German gift tax on that transfer, treating A as having an additional domicile for tax purposes in Germany alongside his Austrian one — a view A's administrative appeal, decided 1 August 2019, upheld. The Finanzgericht Rheinland-Pfalz sided with A on 16 September 2021, holding that the reason for establishing residence must be assessed when the official enters Union service, and the tax authority appealed on a point of law.

On the first question, the Court held that the first sentence of the first paragraph of Article 13 applies to gift taxEuropa even though the text names only income tax, wealth tax and death dutiesEuropa. Those categories are autonomous concepts of EU law, not defined by national law: leaving their scope to each Member State's classifications would fragment the uniform tax regime and could make the rule apply or not depending on which national law supplies the definition. A gift tax shares the essential features of both death duties and income taxEuropa — a gratuitous transfer, or the enrichment it produces — and in most Member States gifts fall under one or the other. Excluding gifts would leave officials with two tax domiciles, let death duties be sidestepped through lightly taxed gifts in the State of residence, and destroy the simple, predictable tax position that makes Union service attractive.

On the second question, the Court held that an official who first established residence outside the State of origin in order to perform Union duties keeps the State-of-origin tax domicile even after moving, for personal reasons, to a Member State other than the one where they workEuropa. Article 13 speaks of a single deemed domicileEuropa, and its allocation of taxing powers cannot depend on the official's volitionEuropa — a point already established in the Court's 1993 judgment in X (C-88/92). A move to be near family, or a residence shaped by the mix of professional, economic and personal motives behind any choice of home, does not end the protection while Union service continuesEuropa; making it turn on an assessment of subjective motives would render the rule uncertain. The Court recalled only that officials' choice of residence remains circumscribed by staff rules requiring residence at or near the place of employment. Applied to A, Germany cannot treat him as having an additional tax domicile there for gift-tax purposes alongside AustriaEuropa.

Legal basis: first sentence of the first paragraph of Article 13 of Protocol No 7, read with Articles 12, 17 and 21 of that Protocol and Article 343 TFEU.