WITHHOLDING TAX | refund for intermediary holding in Cyprus denied
In its decision of 23.3.2023 (Ra 2022/15/0050 in German only) the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court declined the qualification of a Cyprus-based intermediary holding company for a refund of Austrian withholding taxes on dividend payments under the EU Parent Subsidiary Directive. In this decision the court confirmed its legal opinion expressed in previous decisions.
Conclusion
Following the court’s decision, a foreign intermediary holding company can only claim the benefits of the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive if it carries out its own economic activity, if there are relevant non-tax reasons for the interposition and if the shareholder behind it would also have been entitled to relief if it had received the dividends directly.
The following articles on Austrian withholding tax on dividends might also be of interest to you:
- WITHHOLDING TAX | Recent developments in regard to dividend taxation
- WITHHOLDING TAX | Supreme court on income attribution to foreign trusts
If you need assistance with withholding taxes or have any questions to this topic please do not hesitate to contact the authors.
