COURT CLARIFIES CONCEPT OF 'PRIMARY RESIDENCE'.

• Position: European Court of Justice - Brief Article

The European Court of Justice on July 12 clarified the notion of "primary residence" for an EU resident for the purposes of paying taxes. The Court re-iterated that primary residence is the place where a person lives for at least 185 days per year. However, in particularly complex cases where the person has personal and professional links in two Member States, all elements should be taken in to account. This includes where they live, where their children go to school, their professional activities, their heritage and their links with public authorities. And if it is still unclear, the place where the person has the strongest personal ties should be the deciding factor.The Court was giving a preliminary ruling to a Greek judge, who asked it whether he should cancel a motor vehicle tax levied on a certain Mr Paraskevas Louloudakis (case C-262/99). He had personal and professional links to Italy and Greece, but when he brought three Italian-registered vehicles into Heraklion in Crete, the customs authorities seized them as contraband. They maintained his primary residence was in Greece and he...