Une interprétation de la directive sociétés mères et filiales du 23 juillet 1990
The Implementation of the Parent/Subsidiary Directive of 23 July 1990
Author
Summary, in English
At the crossing between Community law and international tax law, this thesis analyses and compares the Member States' legislation implementing the Parent/Subsidiary Directive of 23 July 1990. Of special interest, the different levels of compliance towards Community law have been proved to be the major obstacle to the harmonisation’s process underlying in the Directive. The procedural differences due to the judicial autonomy of Member States also cause additional obstacles in the uniform application of Community Law.
This Directive's major aim is to provide for a favourable environment for groups of companies settled among two or more Member States, as well as neutralise tax laws as determining the decision of investments location. Thus, taxes tradit-ionally levied by Member States on outgoing dividends are no longer permitted thanks to this Community direc-tive. Further, incoming dividends shall benefit from the parent exemption or the credit method for avoiding double taxation.
However, the introduction of an anti ‘directive-shopping’ clause in the Directive has allowed Member States to adopt restrictive legislation that are discussed and criticised on the basis of the principle of proportionality. It is also discussed that this clause could be interpreted restrictively as an exception to the main rule, allowing several national laws to be challenged by Community citizen.
Beyond the large interpretation difficulties linked to the comparison of the different language versions of the Directive, and due to the lack of clarity in the language used by the Community text, the major obstacle revealed by this study remains the lack of common tax policy at the European level, the Directive’s goal of tax neutrality cannot be fulfilled.
It is discussed that without a complete harmonisation of both the basis and modalities for Corporate Income Tax. The conclusion of this study consists of a call for a larger harmonisation process in Corporate Income Tax law.
This Directive's major aim is to provide for a favourable environment for groups of companies settled among two or more Member States, as well as neutralise tax laws as determining the decision of investments location. Thus, taxes tradit-ionally levied by Member States on outgoing dividends are no longer permitted thanks to this Community direc-tive. Further, incoming dividends shall benefit from the parent exemption or the credit method for avoiding double taxation.
However, the introduction of an anti ‘directive-shopping’ clause in the Directive has allowed Member States to adopt restrictive legislation that are discussed and criticised on the basis of the principle of proportionality. It is also discussed that this clause could be interpreted restrictively as an exception to the main rule, allowing several national laws to be challenged by Community citizen.
Beyond the large interpretation difficulties linked to the comparison of the different language versions of the Directive, and due to the lack of clarity in the language used by the Community text, the major obstacle revealed by this study remains the lack of common tax policy at the European level, the Directive’s goal of tax neutrality cannot be fulfilled.
It is discussed that without a complete harmonisation of both the basis and modalities for Corporate Income Tax. The conclusion of this study consists of a call for a larger harmonisation process in Corporate Income Tax law.
Department/s
Publishing year
2000
Language
French
Document type
Dissertation
Publisher
Bruylant
Topic
- Law
Keywords
- International private and public law
- Industrial and commercial law
- handelsrätt
- Associationsrätt
- Internationell rätt
Status
Published
Supervisor
- [unknown] [unknown]
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 91-87998-23-8
Defence date
16 December 2000
Defence time
10:15
Defence place
ECI Crafoord Salen, Lund, Sweden
Opponent
- F. Vanistendael (Prof.)