Tax & Legal

In its decision of 3 June 2025 – VIII R 21/22, the Supreme Tax Court referred various questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ) for a preliminary ruling in connection with the dividend withholding tax paid to third-country companies.

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) held that a request for a preliminary ruling made to the Court of Justice does not prevent the referring court from continuing the main proceedings in part. The referring court may carry out procedural steps that it considers necessary, such as the collection of evidence, and which do not prevent it from complying with the subsequent response of the Court.

On 26 February 2019, the ECJ issued its judgements in the joined cases T Denmark and Y Denmark -v- the Danish Ministry of Taxation (C-116/16 and C-117/16) and N Luxembourg 1, X Denamrk A/S, C Danmark I and Z Denmark ApS -v- the Danish Ministry of Taxation ( C115/16. C-118/16, C-119/16 and C-299/16).

On 30 May 2017 the Supreme Tax Court decided to refer to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) the question of whether the real estate transfer tax (RETT) exemption on conversions - in Section 6a Real Estate Transfer Tax Act - constitutes illegal state aid.

An ECJ advocate general has suggested the court give rather general guidance on the calculation and verification of the creditable corporation tax underlying a dividend from another EU country.