This book is the first in-depth study to analyze the circumstances in which the freedom of establishment or free movement of capital may apply to the cross-border distribution of dividends. It covers both the positive integration set forth by the European Commission and the Member States and the negative integration developed by the European Court of Justice. The author discusses such elements of these integration measures as the following: economic double taxation (two different subjects pay tax on the same profit); juridical double taxation (two different states tax one and the same person for the same income); exemption, credit, and other techniques adopted by States to avoid double taxation; division of taxing rights between two States with respect to dividend income; prevention of juridical double taxation by bilateral tax conventions; Member States’ mitigation of economic double taxation; double exemption as an unplanned outcome of double taxation prevention measures; and order of precedence between freedom of establishment and free movement of capital. The analysis treats relevant provisions the OECD Model Tax Convention in detail, as this model is widely used by national tax authorities in connection with international taxation of dividends. It also examines pertinent initiatives launched by the European Commission up to and including its consultation paper of January 28, 2011. In addition to its scrutiny of the disparities in cross-border dividend taxation within the European Union, this book stands out for its detailed coverage of the progress made in resolving these challenging taxation issues. It is sure to be welcomed by investors, corporate counsel, and national revenue authorities.

This book is a detailed and comprehensive study on the taxation of cross-border dividend distributions. It first considers cross-border dividend taxation in the context of EU law. In this field, issues such as the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice, the hindrance to the internal market caused by double taxation of dividends and the compatibility of dividend withholding taxes are dealt with. Next, the book discusses the taxation of dividends under tax treaties, in particular focusing on the definition of "dividends" in the OECD Model Convention and the meaning of the concept of "beneficial owner" as applied to dividends. The application of domestic and agreement-based anti-abuse rules to dividends is thoroughly analysed. Finally, the relevance of the non-discrimination provision enshrined in Art. 24 of the OECD Model Convention to dividends as well as procedural issues relating to treaty relief and possible ways of improvement are taken into consideration. Individual country surveys provide an in-depth analysis of the above issues from a national viewpoint in selected European and non-European jurisdictions.

This paper addresses the tax treatment of EU inbound dividends in the EU Member States where the corporate (rather that individual) shareholders are resident, that is dividends paid by a company that is resident in a EU Member State to a corporate recipient shareholder that is resident in a EU Member State, including those dividends not covered by the Parent-Subsidiary Directive ("corporate dividends"). The paper adopts a comparative approach aimed at providing an explanation of the convergence of policies relating corporate dividends of the EU countries of residence of recipient corporate shareholders in the EU in the last decade, a convergence not fully explained by the top-down harmonization introduced by the Parent-Sub Directive. The paper describes the process of convergence towards exemption for corporate dividends (section 2), and then provides an evolutionary explanation of that process by adopting an evolutionary approach (section 3), together with a discussion of the circulation of the participation exemption model through tax transplants in combination with the ECJ case law (section 4). The paper concludes with comments on the intra-model competition among sub-models of participation exemption (section 5).

The rules of the Member States on the taxation of the foreign business income of companies, whether such rules are based on the fiscal principle of territoriality or on the principle of worldwide taxation, are in conflict with the objective of achievement of the internal market. This objective is indeed difficult to reach when it comes to the taxation of foreign income, given that the Member States are far from taxing companies doing business cross-border as if their operations were purely domestic. Areas of conflict include particularly the taxation of foreign profits, the deduction of foreign losses, the elimination of international double taxation and the attribution of profits to permanent establishments. This dissertation analyses this conflict on the basis of a study of the case law of the European Court of Justice as well as some of the key provisions of the European treaties. It appears that both the fiscal principle of territoriality and the principle of worldwide taxation give rise to complex issues of compatibility with the law of the European Union. Although the analysis conducted throughout the dissertation provides some guidance for the taxation of the foreign business income of companies, it is concluded that the Court cannot, by itself, efficiently resolve the conflict between such taxation and the objective of achievement of the internal market.

As a result of the Regulation on the European Company and the Tenth Council Directive, all Member States are obliged to finally implement the merger arrangements of the 1990 Fiscal Merger Directive, forcefully raising the question of the tax consequences of cross-border mergers. This book is the first to focus in such an extended way on the meaning of the 1990 Directive’s tax provisions in this context. With unique and valuable insights drawn from legislative history documents never examined before, its detailed commentary leads to sound and practical recommendations on cross-border mergers within the EU from a tax law perspective. This book also examines to what extent taxation as a result of mergers is in line with the freedom of establishment and the free movement of capital. Clearly analysing the dangers of advance taxation, double taxation, double non taxation, and additional tax claims as a result of a merger, the book deals with such core elements as the following: the aims of cross-border merger relief schemes; the aims of cross-border merger relief schemes; transfer of losses; exit taxation; taxation of dividend withholding tax; employee participation rights; tax standing of creditors of a transferring company; and taxation of foreign shareholders. With its new insights on tax aspects of mergers within the European Union, this book will be of special value to merging companies and their shareholders, to tax administrations and courts, and to legislators who must properly implement the Merger Directive.

The distribution of profits between corporations resident in different jurisdictions gives rise to both significant tax planning opportunities and tax risks. As cross-border transactions between corporations grow in number and complexity, the question of how a profit distribution is classified for corporate income tax purposes becomes increasingly important, particularly in the context of issues such as double taxation, non-taxation and tax neutrality. The OECD BEPS project has only increased the relevance. This unique work discusses the international tax law rules determining which transactions may be classified and taxed as dividends and how possible classification conflicts may be resolved. The author examines the tax classification of various inter-corporate transactions, including: – Payments made under dividend-stripping arrangements. – Fictitious profit distributions. – Economic benefits in the context of transfer pricing. – Returns on debt-equity hybrids. – Interest payments in thin capitalization situations and distributions following liquidation. The analysis of each transaction refers to international tax law. Most weight is given to tax treaties and EU tax law, including the BEPS development. The approaches adopted in different states’ national tax law are covered by a more general analysis. The comprehensive coverage and the practical nature of The International Tax Law Concept of Dividend make it an essential acquisition for tax practitioners, researchers and tax libraries worldwide.

At a domestic level, dividend tax systems are usually designed to relieve the economic double taxation of corporate profits and are related to the personal taxation of savings income. Increasingly over the last 40 years, however, international considerations have intruded upon domestic tax policy. Source country taxation of corporate profits and residence country personal taxation of dividends have limited domestic tax policy options and decoupled corporate and personal tax systems. This article examines the issues for dividend tax policy in an international setting and the role of bilateral tax treaties in addressing those issues. The article explains how, within the European Union, the freedoms guaranteed by the EU Treaties have dictated Member States' tax policy options. It concludes that general non-discrimination principles, in contrast to specific treaty provisions, have a limited role to play in resolving the competing claims of source and residence countries to tax the return on corporate activity.Full-text Paper.