Withholding Taxation In The Eu

Florian Haase presents a comprehensive overview of the general mechanisms by which taxation is withheld in Europe and explores their practical implications. He expertly navigates the complexities of international tax law and provides a rigorous examination of the challenges currently facing this area of legislation, including tax evasion and avoidance, double taxation, and tax treaties.

Time is a crucial dimension in the application of any law. In tax law, however, where an environment characterized by rapid change on the national, European, and international levels complicates the provision of accurate legal advice, timing is particularly sensitive. This book is the first to analyse the relationship between time and three key areas of tax: treaties, EU law, and constitutional law issues, such as legal certainty and individual rights. Among the numerous timing issues arising out of applying tax rules, the book addresses the following: – time limits within which relief must be requested; – statutes of limitation for claiming a tax refund; – transitional issues relating to changes in tax treaties; – attribution of profits and expenses to a moving or closed-down business; – effect of tax-related CJEU decisions and EU directives; – compliance of exit tax regimes with free movement; – limits of retroactivity under principles protected by the EU Charter and the ECHR; and – conflict between efficiency of taxation and individual rights. Derived from a recent conference organized by the prestigious ATOZ Chair for European and International Taxation at the University of Luxembourg, the book brings together contributions from leading tax experts from various areas of tax practice, academia, and the judiciary. Among other issues, the book notably expands on how economic theory can inform a constitutional analysis of the timing of taxation. There is no other work that concentrates so usefully on the difficulties associated with applying tax rules – whether arising from treaties, jurisprudence, or policy – to changing circumstances over time. This book will quickly prove itself to be an indispensable resource for European tax lawyers, policymakers, company counsels, and academics.

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.

Basic knowledge of European Tax Law This concise handbook has become a traditional instrument for gaining basic knowledge of European tax law with emphasis on direct taxes. It is directed at students, experienced international tax specialists with little knowledge of European law, European law specialists and non-Europeans who deal with Europe for business or academic reasons and need to understand the foundations of European tax law. Moreover, this book can be useful to academics without a legal background in approaching technical issues raised by European Union tax law, as well as give inspiration to the most experienced European direct tax law experts. This seventh edition further refines and updates the content, but also enhances the coordination across the chapter and the selection of case law in line with the weight that it carries for the development of European tax law. An indispensable consultation tool - Introduction to European Tax Law on Direct Taxation.

This book deals with all the EC law norms that are relevant from the perspective of direct taxes. It explains how these norms are, and should be, interpreted and how they affect national tax laws and the tax treatment in EU Member States. It begins by giving a comprehensive overview of the basic principles and concepts of EC tax law and all relevant articles of the EC Treaty, analysing them in the light of direct tax case law. A discussion follows covering all relevant EC directives and recommendations and other soft law material on direct taxes. Reference is made to all relevant judgments of the EC Court on direct taxes. The book includes a chapter on the tax treatment of the different EU entity forms and the future of corporate taxation, with a separate chapter dedicated to the EC law issues related to transfer pricing and to the EC law norms on administrative assistance in tax matters.

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.

The principle of non-discrimination plays a vital role in international and European tax law. This dissertation analyses the interpretation given to that principle in tax treaty practice and in the direct tax case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) on the fundamental freedoms. The objective of this analysis is twofold: to give a clear and thorough overview of both standards and to determine whether they share a common, underlying principle of non-discrimination. In order to achieve these objectives, a comprehensive selection of case law is discussed from the perspective of the two constitutive elements of discrimination, comparability and the existence of different treatment. Moreover, attention is drawn to the question whether a domestic measure that is found to be discriminatory may nevertheless be justified on the basis of reasons of public interest. Finally, the possible interplay between both standards is addressed.

This report contains a detailed statistical and economic analysis of the tax systems of the Member States of the European Union and Norway. The data are presented within a unified statistical framework (the ESA95 harmonised system of national and regional accounts), which makes it possible to assess the heterogeneous national tax systems on a fully comparable basis. The standard classifications of tax revenues (by major type of tax or by level of government) presented in most international tax revenue statistics are hard to interpret in economic terms. This publication stands out for offering a breakdown of tax revenues by economic function (i.e. according to whether they are raised on consumption, labour or capital). This classification is based on disaggregated tax data and on a breakdown of the revenue from the personal income tax. In addition, the report contains indicators of the average effective tax burden on consumption, labour and capital. Country chapters give an overview of the tax system in each of the 28 countries covered, the revenue trends and the main recent policy changes. Detailed tables allow comparison between the individual countries and European averages. Data cover the 1995-2005 period and are presented both as a percentage of GDP and as a percentage of total taxation.

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.

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.