Gibraltar: proposed corporate tax changes constitute state aid

The Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber) gave its opinion today in Commission v Government of Gibraltar and United Kingdom: see here. A press summary is available here (pdf). The court decided that proposed changes to the taxation of companies in Gibraltar - the effect of which was that offshore companies would pay no tax - constituted state aid and were therefore incompatible with EU law. The court found that offshore companies enjoyed a selective advantage under the proposals which, in the court's view, was not the random consequence of the proposed regime: it was the inevitable consequence of the proposed bases of assessment (the number of employees and occupation of premises).