ECJ: Advocate General finds the 5% add-back of tax credits for withholding tax at source abroad compatible with Parent-Subsidiary Directive

On 24 January 2008, Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave her opinion in the case of Banque Féderative du Crédit Mutuel v. Ministre de l'Économie, des Finances et de l'Industrie (C-27/07). The French Administrative Supreme Court had requested a preliminary ruling from the ECJ on 17 January 2007.

In this case, the Advocate General concluded that where a Member State has opted (under Art. 4(2) of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive to …