The association Amis de l’Université has awarded the Rolf Tarrach Prize 2020 to Fatima Chaouche for her outstanding doctoral thesis in Luxembourgish tax law.
Her thesis explores the legal value and enforceability of tax circulars and tax rulings in Luxembourg domestic law in light of the principle of legitimate expectations. Chaouche’s normative proposals aim at addressing issues of uncertainty and inequality taxpayers are likely to suffer from when relying on a circular or tax ruling that proves to be unlawful. Chaouche developed a differentiated theory of trust for each of these interpretative acts as a way to delineate the instances for which taxpayers’ legitimate expectations deserve protection.
By awarding the best doctoral thesis each year with a prize money of 10,000 euros, the association Amis de l’Université rewards excellence in the field of research and promotes the international reputation of the University of Luxembourg.
Dr Fatima Chaouche’s thesis “Legitimate Expectations in Luxembourg Tax Law: The case of administrative circulars and tax rulings,” was completed at the Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance. Her research was supervised by Prof. Werner Haslehner, Prof. Jean-Pierre Winandy and Prof. Jörg Gerkrath.
She currently works for the Luxembourg Cour administrative as a référendaire and is mostly involved with tax litigation cases. She also teaches Bachelor and Master courses in administrative and tax law at the University of Luxembourg.