EU Freedoms, Non-EU Countries and Company 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.

About the Author. List of Abbreviations. Preface. Part I Methodological Framework and Benchmark. Chapter 1 Research Question, Scope and Methodology. Chapter 2 The Benchmark of International Tax Neutrality and the Requirement of a Genuine Economic Link under Freedom of Investment. Part II The Intra-union Context: Legal Integration between Member States in the Field of Corporate Income Taxation. Chapter 3 The Notion of ‘Third Countries’ under Freedom of Investment. Chapter 4 Relevant Positive Integration between Member States and between Member States and Third Countries. Chapter 5 Relevant Negative Integration between Member States. Part III The Third-Country Context: The Impact of Freedom of Investment between the Member States and Third Countries in the Field of Corporate Income Taxation. Chapter 6 Freedom of Investment between the Member States and Third Countries: Access . Chapter 7 Freedom of Investment between the Member States and Third Countries: Discrimination and Justification Grounds. Chapter 8 Freedom of Investment between the Member States and Third Countries: The Temporal Scope. Part IV The ‘Mixed’ Context: The Impact of Freedom of Investment on Indirectly Held Third-Country Investments in the Field of Corporate Income Taxation. Chapter 9 Freedom of Investment and Indirectly Held Third-Country Investments in the Field of Corporate Income Taxation. Part V Recommendations for Legislative Action, Summary and Conclusions. Chapter 10 Recommendations for Concerted Legislative Action. Chapter 11 Summary and Conclusions. Bibliography. Table of Cases. Index.