The European Court of Justice exempts lawyers from informing the Treasury of their clients’ aggressive tax planning operations, considering that it is essential to respect the professional secrecy of lawyers and lawyer-client confidentiality.
This was established by the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), in its ruling of December 8, 2022, in which it determined that the obligation to communicate information is incumbent on other intermediaries not subject to professional secrecy and, in the absence of such intermediaries, that it is incumbent on the taxpayer concerned to ensure that the Tax Administration is informed.
The obligation of professional secrecy is indispensable in a democratic state governed by the rule of law.