Taxation of Insurance Premiums in the EU Cross-Border Insurance Business

Abstract

As in many other cases of business activity, the performance of insurance activity involves various types of tax charges. Insurance contracts, having been excluded from the scope of value-added tax at the EU level, are subjected to taxes specific to insurance activity, namely insurance premium taxes, which are discussed in the article. However, insurance premium tax regulations are not harmonised at the EU level and vary immensely from one country to another. In fact, in some EU countries, including Poland, no such taxes have been implemented whatsoever. The issue discussed in the article is related to the fact that an increasing number of insurance companies perform insurance activity on a cross border basis. From this point of view, although there is no such tax in Poland, it may be of great importance to Polish insurance companies that insure risks located outside Poland. The regulations concerning the insurance premium tax depend on internal decisions of individual European Union countries, both in terms of the introduction of such tax, exemptions, and rates, and they may differ significantly across those jurisdictions. Due to the nature of cross-border activity and the rules on the localisation of the risk associated with the taxation of premiums, it was not clear whether and to what extent, in the case of insurance of risks located outside Poland, a tax obligation arises in respect of insurance premiums. These questions were addressed by the Court of Justice of the EU in several cases (C-118/96, C191/99, C-243-11). The CJEU decisions have revealed the multifaceted complexity inherent to the taxation of cross border insurance contracts.