Order of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 18 June 2012 — Amorim Energia BV v Ministério das Finanças e da Administração Pública
(Case C-38/11)
The first subparagraph of Article 104(3) of the Rules of Procedure — Articles 49 TFEU and 54 TFEU — Articles 63 TFEU and 65 TFEU — Directive 90/435/EEC — Article 3(2) — Tax legislation — Corporation tax — Taxation of dividends — Withholding tax — Exemption — Minimum holding in the company distributing dividends — Conditions — Minimum period of uninterrupted share ownership –Conditions — Resident and non-resident recipient companies — Different treatment
1.                     Free movement of capital and liberalisation of payments — Provisions of the Treaty — Scope — National legislation affecting
holdings in the capital of an undertaking acquired for the sole purpose of making a financial investment, with no intention
of influencing the management and supervision of the undertaking — Included — Non-applicability of the provisions governing
freedom of establishment (Art. 63 TFEU) (see paras 37-39)
2.                     Free movement of capital and liberalisation of payments — Restrictions — Tax legislation or Fiscal legislation — Corporation
tax — Taxation of dividends distributed by a resident company to a non-resident recipient company having a holding greater
than 10% but less than 20% of the distributing company’s capital — Exemption of dividends distributed to resident share-holding
companies with the same type of holdings — Not permissible — Limits — Effects of such a restriction of the free movement of
capital neutralised by a double taxation convention — Determination by the national court (Arts 63 TFEU and 65 TFEU) (see
paras 52-69, operative part 1)
3.                     Freedom of movement for persons — Freedom of establishment — Tax legislation — Corporation tax — Taxation of dividends — Tax
withheld at source on dividends distributed by a resident company to a company resident in another Member State reimbursed
on condition that the latter company has held a holding of more than 20% for two years continuously — Delay in doing away
with the double taxation of dividends — Unlawful — Limits — Effects of such a restriction of freedom of establishment neutralised
by a double taxation convention — Determination by the national court (Arts 49 TFEU and 54 TFEU) (see paras 70-84, operative
part 2)
Re:
Reference for a preliminary ruling — Supremo Tribunal Administrativo — Interpretation of Articles 63 TFEU and 65 TFEU — National
legislation subjecting dividends distributed to non-resident companies to tax rules less favourable than those applied to
dividends distributed to resident companies — Non-resident companies required to have held shares for a longer minimum period
and to possess a larger minimum holding.
Operative part:
1.
Articles 63 TFEU and 65 TFEU preclude the legislation of a
Member State, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which
does not permit a company resident in another Member State with a holding of more than 10% but less than 20% in a company
resident in Portugal to obtain exemption from the tax withheld at source on dividends distributed by the company resident
in Portugal and therefore subjects those dividends to economic double taxation, whereas, if the dividends are distributed
to shareholder companies resident in Portugal with the same kind of holdings, such economic double taxation is avoided. Where
a Member State relies on a convention for the avoidance of double taxation concluded with another Member State, it is for
the national court to establish whether account should be taken, in the main proceedings, of that convention and, if so, to
determine whether it enables the effects of the restriction of the free movement of capital to be neutralised.
2.
Articles 49 TFEU and 54 TFEU preclude the legislation of a Member State, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which
permits a company resident in another Member State with a holding greater than 20% in a company resident in Portugal to secure
repayment of the tax deducted at source on dividends distributed by the company resident in Portugal only if it has had such
a holding for an interrupted period of two years, and thus delays the elimination of economic double taxation by comparison
with shareholder companies resident in Portugal with the same kind of shareholdings. When a Member State relies on a convention
for the avoidance of double taxation concluded with another Member State, it is for the national court to establish whether
account should be taken, in the main proceedings, of that convention and, if so, to determine whether it enables the effects
of the restriction of freedom of establishment to be neutralised.