CELEX: 62011CO0038
Language: en
Date: 2012-06-18 00:00:00
Title: Order of the Court (Fifth Chamber) of 18 June 2012.#Amorim Energia BV v Ministério das Finanças e da Administração Pública.#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.#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.#Case C‑38/11.

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.