Research question, scope and methodology -- The benchmark of international tax neutrality and the requirements of a genuine economic link under freedom of investment -- The notion of 'third countries' under freedom of investment -- Relevant positive integration between member states and between member states and third countries -- Relevant negative integration between member states -- Freedom of investment between the member states and third countries : Access -- Freedom of investment between the member states and third countries : Discrimination and justification grounds -- Freedom of investment between the member states and third countries : The temporal scope -- Freedom of investment and indirectly held third-country investments in the field of corporate income taxation -- Recommendations for concerted legislative action -- Summary and conclusions.

The book analyses the taxation of investment funds and their investors from the standpoint of domestic tax laws, tax treaties and EC law. It also provides a comprehensive understanding of the tax issues arising in the cross-border transactions of investment funds and private fund investors in the European Union. The viewpoints of the source state of income, residence state of the investment fund as well as the residence state of the investor are all considered. The book takes a comparative approach by covering five EU Member States (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Finland). On the basis of the examination at the Member State level, the present tax rules and practices are tested against the fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty. The conclusion is that there are still various tax measures that are likely to be in conflict with EC law. The book also discusses possibilities of adopting targeted measures of positive integration at the level of the European Union with a view to enhancing the objective of the single investment fund market.

This report is based on a detailed analysis of the impact that CEE corporate income tax regimes have on the profitability of foreign investment. It has two purposes. The first is to describe the analysis and compare the corporate income tax regimes in the five CEE countries with the regimes in other countries that might compete for the same capital. The second purpose is to discuss the benefits and costs of the various options that the five CEE countries may consider for development of their corporate income tax policies. Particular attention is paid to the effects of tax holidays, which are temporary tax relief that all five countries offer to foreign investors. Some other tax incentives are examined including the impact that inflation would have on them.

In today’s environment of largely globalizing national economies, international economic integration does not stop at the frontiers of the European Union. Many non-EU-based enterprises are carrying on business in the European Union through the operation of branches or subsidiaries established in EU Member States, and a large number of EU-based enterprises maintain a diversified range of investments outside the Union. Accordingly, in both inward and outward investment relationships, ‘economic openness’ is key nowadays. This legal relationship between EU Member States and the EU as a whole vis-à-vis the rest of the world is the starting point of this book. The author analyses the ‘freedom of investment’ concept between EU Member States and non-EU States under EU law, and specifically its effect on company taxation regimes, from the perspective of multinational enterprises. Focusing on the impact of the Treaty freedoms and international integration agreements on relations with non-EU Member States, this work is the first to specifically address the all-important issue: Under which circumstances can investment-related rights deriving from EU law be invoked by companies established in non-EU states? The analysis identifies the impact of the EU Treaty freedoms on six basic corporate income tax themes that are of particular interest for multinational enterprises: limitation on the deduction of interest expenses; withholding taxes on dividend, interest, and royalty payments; relief for double taxation of income received from foreign investments; CFC legislation; non-deduction of foreign losses from the domestic taxable base; and company taxation upon the transnational transfer of business assets.