CELEX: 62007CA0303
Language: en
Date: 2009-06-18 00:00:00
Title: Case C-303/07: Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 18 June 2009 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Korkein hallinto-oikeus — Finland) — Aberdeen Property Fininvest Alpha Oy (Freedom of establishment — Directive 90/435/EEC — Corporation tax — Distribution of dividends — Withholding tax charged on dividends paid to non-resident companies other than companies within the meaning of that directive — Exemption for dividends paid to resident companies)

1.8.2009   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 180/5
            
         Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 18 June 2009 (Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Korkein hallinto-oikeus — Finland) — Aberdeen Property Fininvest Alpha Oy
   (Case C-303/07) (1)
   
   (Freedom of establishment - Directive 90/435/EEC - Corporation tax - Distribution of dividends - Withholding tax charged on dividends paid to non-resident companies other than companies within the meaning of that directive - Exemption for dividends paid to resident companies)
   2009/C 180/07
   Language of the case: Finnish
   
      Referring court
   
   Korkein hallinto-oikeus
   
      Party to the main proceedings
   
   
      Applicant: Aberdeen Property Fininvest Alpha Oy
   
      Re:
   
   Reference for a preliminary ruling — Korkein hallinto-oikeus — Interpretation of Articles 43 EC, 48 EC, 56 EC and 58 EC and Article 2(a) of Council Directive 90/435/EEC of 23 July 1990 on the common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different Member States (OJ 1990 L 225, p. 6) — Retention at source on dividends distributed to a parent company established in another Member State, but exemption for dividends distributed to a parent company established on national territory — Taxable person not mentioned in the directive on parent companies and subsidiaries — Tax convention — Restriction of fundamental freedoms — Comparable situation.
   
      Operative part of the judgment
   
   Articles 43 EC and 48 EC must be interpreted as precluding legislation of a Member State which exempts from withholding tax dividends distributed by a subsidiary resident in that State to a share company resident in that State, but charges withholding tax on similar dividends paid to a parent company in the form of an open-ended investment company (SICAV) resident in another Member State which has a legal form unknown in the law of the former State, does not appear on the list of companies referred to in Article 2(a) of Council Directive 90/435/EEC of 23 July 1990 on the common system of taxation applicable in the case of parent companies and subsidiaries of different Member States, as amended by Council Directive 2003/123/EC of 22 December 2003, and is exempt from income tax under the law of the other Member State.
   
      (1)  OJ C 211, 8.9.2007.