Judgment_paragraph 43 · SF v MV and Others (C-20/23)

43In addition, the exclusion of debts, such as tax and social security debts, from the discharge of debts may be duly justified. Not all debts are of the same nature, creditors do not have the same status and the recovery of those debts may serve specific purposes. Thus, in view of the nature of tax and social security debts and the purpose of collecting tax and social security contributions, Member States may legitimately consider that public institutional creditors are not in a situation comparable to that of creditors in the commercial or private sector from the point of view of recovering the debts concerned. In those circumstances, the possibility of excluding tax and social security debts from the discharge of debt does not amount to unduly favouring public institutional creditors over other creditors who do not benefit from such an exclusion.