Tax & Legal

An ECJ advocate general has suggested the court hold that the 5% effectively connected expense add-back for foreign dividends infringes a company’s freedom of establishment if an otherwise comparable domestic company could avoid the add-back by joining a tax group.

An ECJ advocate general has suggested the court recognise a restriction on the free movement of capital from the differing treatment of the corporation tax underlying domestic and foreign dividends, but hold it to be justified in the interests of maintaining the internationally agreed balance of taxing rights.

The Supreme Tax Court has held that the provision in the Trade Tax Act requiring that foreign dividends on shareholdings of up to 10% be charged to tax if received in 2001 is contrary to European law and must be disapplied for that year.

The ECJ has held that the foreign tax imputation credit on a dividend received from abroad is the lower of the corporation tax shown to have been paid abroad and the income tax due on the dividend by recipient.