PARIS: Ireland-based budget airline Ryanair is pursuing a EUR15m (USD16.3m) tax refund from the French authorities following a European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruling relating to social security payments for international transport workers.
Delivered on April 27, the ECJ’s ruling in the “A-Rosa” case (Case C-620/15, A-Rosa Flussschiff GmbH v Union de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales (Urssaf) d’Alsace), confirms that tax and social security authorities in EU member states cannot demand additional social security payments from temporarily resident transport workers from other member states and their employers when the company is in possession of a valid social security certificate issued by the worker’s home member state.
Under current EU law, a person employed in the territory of one member state is generally subject to the legislation of that state even if he resides in the territory of another member state or if the registered office or place of business of the undertaking or individual employing him is situated in the territory of another member state. However, if a company has a branch or permanent representation in a member state other than that in which it has its registered office or place of business, its employees are subject to the legislation of the member state in whose territory such branch or permanent representation is situated.
The ruling relates to demand by social security authorities in France for EUR2m in unpaid social security contributions relating to employees of A-Rosa, a German-based operator of cruise ships on two French rivers.
In rejecting the claim of the French social security authority, the ECJ said that as long as the relevant certificate denoting to which member state’s social security system an employee belongs is valid, “the competent institution of the member state in which an employee actually works must take account of the fact that that person is already subject to the social security legislation of the member state in which the undertaking employing him is established, and that institution cannot therefore subject the worker in question to its own social security system.”
Ryanair said in a statement published on the same day that the ruling, confirms that the French social insurance authorities have been unlawfully “double charging” the airline and employees based temporarily in Marseille over the past 10 years. These employees, it said, “had already fully paid their social insurance in Ireland in accordance with EU regulations.”
“Following this ruling Ryanair will now pursue a full refund of the EUR10m (plus interest) it has paid in double taxes to the French State between 2006 to 2010 following French Court rulings which completely ignored these EU rules and Irish A1 certificates,” the company said.
“We welcome this ruling in the ‘A Rosa’ case which upholds the existing EU rules on social insurance payments for international transport workers,” added Ryanair’s Chief People Officer Eddie Wilson.
