In European Commission v World Duty Free Group (Case C-20/15p) Banco Santander (Case C-21/15p) and Santusa Holding (Case C-21/15p) (21 December 2016) the CJEU found that the European Commission had been right to find that a tax measure which benefited a wide range of operators could still be selective in breach of the EU state rules.
Under a Spanish provision (Law 24/2001 on fiscal administrative and social measures) in the event that an undertaking taxable in Spain acquires a shareholding in a ‘foreign company’ equal to at least 5% of that company’s capital and retains that shareholding for an uninterrupted period of at least one year the goodwill resulting from that shareholding as recorded in the undertaking’s accounts as a separate intangible asset may be deducted in the form of an amortisation from the basis of assessment for the corporation tax for which the undertaking...
