As you may have noticed, it has now been approximately five years since the EU Parent Subsidiary Directive general anti-abuse rule (Directive 2015/121/EU (PSD GAAR)) was included in the EU Parent Subsidiary Directive (Directive 2011/96/EU). Since then legislative developments have occurred and some countries have developed internal guidance, administrative practice or case-law concerning the interpretation. Furthermore, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has taken ground-breaking decisions in the past few years that impact the interpretation and application of the PSD GAAR; in particular, the ECJ judgments in Eqiom, Juhler Holding and Deister Holding cases, and the Danish cases.
Additionally, these tax developments are also of importance for the principal purpose test (PPT) which is included in many tax treaties via the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI). It may be expected that countries would follow a similar interpretation for both the PPT and the PSD GAAR.
In this context we prepared the ‘‘Overview of EU Member States and Switzerland’’, which gives you a comprehensive overview of the current state of play on the interpretation and application of the PSD GAAR in the EU member states and how Switzerland deals with it.
