EU Tax Issues Arising from Croatia’s Accession to the EU: Dividend Taxation

The following document will examine the position of Croatian tax system in relation to the EU tax system. The issues that the document will concentrate on are dividend taxation issues. First, the gradual development of the European Union landmark judgments will be examined, from the first, Verkooijen case, to the current situation in the The Test Claimants in the FII Group Litigation v. The Commissioners for HM Revenue and Customs (FII GLO) case. Second, dividend taxation in other Member States in Croatia's region (Eastern Europe) will be looked at together to see what hurdles they had to overcome when entering the EU while examining how comparable Croatia is to them. Third, the text will assume a critical approach of the new system of dividend taxation adopted in Croatia in March 2012 and its subsequent implementation.

At the end of the paper, it will be discussed whether the changes made by Croatia are sufficient to make it compliant with EU law on dividend taxation.