FAQS DURING THE UNION SYNDICALE LECTURES
given to a Belgian tax payer whose spouse is not working or has low earnings (less than €10,230). An EU official and his spouse file a joint tax unless the official earns more than €10,230. 105. The conclusion of the Court was: “The reason for exclusion from the benefit is not the fact of being a Community official in receipt of an income in excess of the index-linked sum, but stems from the general condition, which applies without discrimination to spouses, one of whom is an official, as it does to any other taxpayer, regarding the amount of income giving entitlement to the benefit at issue.” 106. In other words, the tax authorities must not give a tax deduction to the spouse of an EU official as if he or she were married to someone who was not working or who had low earnings under €10,230. 107. In 2012, the Court of Justice of the European Union confirmed that “the tax authorities of a Member State cannot take account of the income paid by the European Union to its officials and other staff (or pensions and allowances paid to former officials), in calculating the cap on a tax such as the wealth tax (impôt sur la fortune)” (Case C-558/10, Bourgès-Maunoury and Heintz v Direction des services fiscaux d’Eure-et-Loir, [2012] ECR, p. I-418). 108. The court added that “In the interest of legal certainty “… a person in receipt of such income is also exempt from any obligation to declare the amount of such income to the authorities of a Member State”. 109. The main difference in this case was that the French state required the EU official to declare the amount of his remuneration or pension to allow France to determine a cap on the wealth tax. In Vanderzwalmen, the actual income did not matter, just the fact that the EU official has income in excess of €10,230. That was all he was asked to declare in his tax return. 57