Overview

Rita de la Feria received her law degree from the University of Lisbon, having specialised in tax law and economic law. She then began her professional career as a tax consultant with Arthur Andersen, working in both their Lisbon and Dublin offices. In 2006, she completed her PhD on EU VAT harmonisation at the Law School of the University of Dublin, Trinity College.

Prior to joining Oxford University, Rita de la Feria held lecturing positions on Tax Law and EU Law at both the University of Dublin, Trinity College and Queen’s University Belfast. She was a visiting scholar at New York University, Law School in 2008, an ATAX Visiting Research Fellow at the University of New South Wales, Sydney in 2009, and Visiting Professor at the University of Lisbon in 2010. She teaches regularly at the Catholic University of Portugal, Global Law School, Lisbon. In August 2011 she was appointed Adviser to the Portuguese Government on VAT Policy to assist with forthcoming reforms.

She has published widely on tax issues, particularly on EU VAT, and presented to academic, practitioner, and tax administration audiences, the latter amongst others within the framework of the European Commission’s Fiscalis Programme. Most notably, she is author of the book The EU VAT System and the Internal Market (Amsterdam: IBFD, 2009), co-editor of Prohibition of Abuse of Law: A New General Principle of EU Law? (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011), and editor of the loose-leaf A Handbook of EU VAT Legislation (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2004 onwards), which is updated bi-annually. Her work is regularly cited by the courts, including the EU Court of Justice.

She is a member of the editorial board of the British Tax Review, a contributing author for Highlights & Insights on European Taxation, and a correspondent for Revista de Finanças Públicas e Direito Fiscal. She is also a member of the International Fiscal Association, and the Tax Research Network.

Research interests

Rita de la Feria's current research interests are mainly within European tax law and policy and VAT.

Books

R. de la Feria (ed.), VAT Exemptions: Consequences and Alternatives (The Hague: Kluever Law International, 2011), forthcoming

R. de la Feria and S. Vogenauer (eds.) Prohibition of Abuse of Law: A New General Principle of EU Law? (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011)

R. de la Feria, The EU VAT System and the Internal Market (Amsterdam: IBFD, 2009)

Loose-leafs

R. de la Feria, A Handbook of EU VAT Legislation, Loose-leaf, Volumes 1, 2 and 3 (The Hague: Kluwer Law International, 2004 onwards), updated bi-annually

Book chapters

R. de la Feria and R. Krever, 'Ending VAT Exemptions: Learning from Experience Towards a Post-Modern VAT' in R. de la Feria (ed.), VAT Exemptions: Consequences and Alternatives (The Hague: Kluver Law International, 2011), forthcoming

R. de la Feria and C. Belin, 'A Repartição das Competencias Tributánas: O Papel do IVA na Reform dos Impostos Sabre o Rendimento Colectivo' in F. Araujo, P. Otero, and J. Gama (eds.), Livro de Homenagem a Saldanha Sanches (Coimbra Editora, 2011), forthcoming

R. de la Feria, ‘Introducing the Principle of Prohibition of Abuse of Law’ in R. de la Feria and S. Vogenauer (eds.), Prohibition of Abuse of Law: A New General Principle of EU Law? (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2011)

R. de la Feria and C. Fuest, 'Führt die EuGH-Rechtsprechung zu einem Abbau steuerlicher Verzerrungen im Europäischen Binnenmarkt?' in K. Tipke, Seer, J. Hey and J. Englisch (eds.), Festschrift für Joachim Lang (Köln: Verlag Otto Schmidt, 2010)

R. de la Feria, ‘VAT and the EC Internal Market: The Paradoxes of Harmonisation’ in D. Weber (ed.), Traditional and Alternative Routes to European Tax Integration (Amsterdam: IBFD, 2010)

R. de la Feria, 'Place Where the Supply/Activity Is Effectively Carried Out as an Allocation Rule: VAT v. Direct Taxation' in M. Lang et al (eds.), Value Added Tax and Direct Taxation - Similarities and Differences (Amsterdam: IBFD, 2009)

A.P. Dourado and R. de la Feria, ‘Thin Capitalization in the Context of the CCCTB’ in M. Lang et al (eds.), Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (Vienna: Linde Verlag, 2008)

Journal articles

R. de la Feria, ‘A Natureza das Actividades e Direito à Dedução das Holdings em Sede de IVA’ (2011) Revista de Finanças Públicas e Direito Fiscal 3

R. de la Feria and B. Lockwood, 'Opting for Opting In? An Evaluation of the Commission’s Proposals for Reforming VAT for Financial Services' (2010) Fiscal Studies 31(2)

R. de la Feria and M. Walpole, 'Options for Taxing Financial Supplies in Value Added Tax: EU VAT and Australian GST Models Compared' (2009) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 58(4)

R. de la Feria, 'The EU VAT Treatment of Public Sector Bodies: Slowly Moving in the Wrong Direction' (2009) Intertax 37(3)

R. de la Feria, ‘Prohibition of Abuse of (Community) Law – The Creation of a New General Principle of EC Law Through Tax’ (2008) Common Market Law Review 45(2)

R. de la Feria, ‘Evolução do Conceito de Abuso do Direito no Âmbito do Direito Fiscal Comunitário’ (2008) Revista de Finanças Públicas e Direito Fiscal 1(2); also published as (2009) Revista Fórum de Direito Tributário 40

R. de la Feria, 'When do dealings in shares fall within the scope of VAT?' (2008) EC Tax Review 17(1)

R. de la Feria, 'The EU VAT Treatment of Insurance and Financial Services (Again) Under Review', (2007) EC Tax Review 16(2)

R. de la Feria, 'The European Court of Justice’s solution to aggressive VAT planning – further towards legal uncertainty?', (2006) EC Tax Review 15(1)

Working Papers

R. de la Feria and C. Fuest, ‘Closer to an Internal Market? The Economic Effects of EU Tax Jurisprudence’ Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation Working Paper 11/12, June 2011

Legislative, case and current notes

R. de la Feria and H. Van Kesteren, “VAT Exemptions: Consequences and Design Alternatives” (2011) International VAT Monitor 5

R. de la Feria, ‘Weald Leasing. Application of the abuse of law test in the VAT sphere. Court of Justice’ (2011) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 3

R. de la Feria, ‘EMI Group. ‘Samples’ and ‘gifts of small value’. Court of Justice’ (2011) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 3

R. de la Feria, 'Astra Zeneca UK. Supply of Services. Retail vouchers provided by a company to its employees as part of their renumeration. Court of Justice' (2010), Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 11

R. de la Feria, 'Commission v United Kingdom. Insurance and financial transactions. No refund of input VAT to taxable persons not established in EU territory. Court of Justice' (2010) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 10

R. de la Feria, 'Future Health Technologies, VAT Exemption. Storage of blood from the umbilical cord of newborn children for future therapeutic use' (2010) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 10

R. de la Feria, 'Partial-Exemption Policy in the United Kingdom' (2010) International VAT Monitor 21(2)

R. de la Feria, ‘Sujeição ou não sujeição a IVA das actividades exercidas pelo sector público. O caso Comissão / Irlanda’ (2009) Revista de Finanças Públicas e Direito Fiscal 2(3)

R. de la Feria, ‘Commission v Ireland. Activities carried out by public authorities. ECJ’ (2009) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 10

R. de la Feria, ’Derogation authorising the United Kingdom to maintain special measures to combat intra-Community VAT fraud. EU Council‘ (2009) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 8

R. de la Feria, ‘Loyalty Management UK Limited. Reference for a preliminary ruling in a UK case regarding a customer loyalty rewards scheme. House of Lords’ (2009) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 7

R. de la Feria, ‘Weald Leasing. Reference for a preliminary ruling in a UK case regarding the application of the abuse of law test to leasing structures. Court of Appeal’ (2009) Highlights & Insights on European Taxation 7

R. de la Feria, ‘Proposal for a Council Directive amending Directive 2006/112/EC as regards the rules on invoicing’ (2009) Highlights and Insights on European Taxation 4

R. de la Feria, ‘EMI Group Ltd. Sample within the meaning of art. 16 VAT Directive’ (2009) Highlights and Insights on European Taxation 5

R. de la Feria, 'HMRC v Weald Leasing Ltd. Not only artificial: The abuse of law test in VAT' (2008) British Tax Review 5

M. Devereux and R. de la Feria, ‘VAT – Unjust Enrichment’ (2008) The Tax Journal 933, 12 May

R. de la Feria, ‘VAT Treatment of Credit Vouchers – Section 22’ (2006) British Tax Review 5

R. de la Feria, ‘EU VAT Treatment of Insurance and Financial Services’ (2006) Tax Notes International 43(11)

R. de la Feria, ‘Giving Themselves Extra (VAT)? The ECJ Ruling in Halifax’ (2006) British Tax Review 2

R. de la Feria, ‘”GAME OVER” for Aggressive VAT Planning? RAL v Commissioners of Customs & Excise’ (2005) British Tax Review 4