The Community law principle of free movement of persons entails a broad prohibition of discrimination including by means of tax provisions. The Bilateral EU-Swiss Treaty on free movement of persons contains this same prohibition of discrimination and refers for its proper interpretation to the case law of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In the recent Boitelle case, however, a Swiss court did not apply the relevant ECJ case law (Schumacker) when upholding source-based taxation rules that discriminate against ‘frontaliers’ who work in Switzerland but live in France. This note first discusses the legal framework (Community law, the EU-Swiss treaty, income tax implications for ‘frontaliers’). It subsequently summarizes the Boitelle case (facts, arguments, decision of the court). Finally, it places the decision of the Swiss court in the context of settled ECJ internal market and income tax case law.
Intertax