Limiting Benefit Shopping: Outline of a Measure to Counter Erosion of the Dividend Tax Base in the EU

Triptych: Shopping for tax advantages: what can (and cannot) be done to prevent it. The following article is the final part of a triptych, each panel of which is independent of but also complements the other two. The theme of the triptych is what measures are possible – and impossible – in combating conduit arrangements under EU law. The first panel was published in EC Tax Review 2009/6 and deals with the issue of when Member States – specifically in their capacity as source state – can deny advantages to conduit companies under the EU freedom of establishment. The second panel, which was published in EC Tax Review 2010/5, examines the measures applied by four large Member States to combat dividend tax-saving arrangements involving EU conduit companies. In this third and final panel, the authors make recommendations to the Member States as regards the tools they can use to combat such arrangements.