Tax Treaty Case Law around the Globe 2024

15.1. Introduction

15.1.1. The Danish beneficial ownership cases

The Danish case to be presented at the 2024 conference is the latest decision by the Danish Supreme Court in a number of cases that are collectively called the Danish Beneficial Ownership cases. In some of these cases, the Eastern HC and the Western HC referred a request for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The facts of the cases are in several respects similar. The Danish Beneficial Ownership cases dealt with the question of whether Denmark could refuse an exemption from withholding tax in situations in which intermediary holding companies resident in other EU Member States had received dividends or interest. The dividends and interest payments were made by subsidiary companies resident in Denmark. The Danish tax authorities did consider the recipient intermediary holding companies to be mere conduit companies that were not the beneficial owner of the dividends or interest payments. These beneficial ownership cases concern situations that took place at a time before Denmark had implemented the relevant provisions on abuse in Directive 90/434 and Directive 2015/121/EU. The Grand ...