Tax & Legal

The finance ministry has confirmed its interpretation of the Norwegian DTT to the effect that dividends received by a German company on a holding of 25% or more are free of German taxation.

In a case brought by the Commission, the ECJ has held that Germany’s withholding tax on dividends to other corporations is in breach of community law in that it discourages persons from other member states from investing in Germany.

In a recent judgement, the Supreme Tax Court decided that the participation threshold specified in Section 8b (4) Sentence 6 of the German Corporation Tax Act (“CTA”) (10 % of the share capital) can also be attained through an acquisition transaction which is economically uniform from the acquirer's perspective in a situation where several sellers are involved in the transaction.