AG Opinion Issued on whether Belgian Rules Restricting Interest Deductions Violates Parent-Subsidiary Directive

On 27 April 2017, an opinion was issued from Advocate General (AG) Kokott of the CJEU on whether the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive conflicts with a Belgian rule according to which interest payments by a company are non-deductible to the extent that in the same tax year it receives exempted dividends from holdings that have been owned by the company for less than a year.

The case involves Belgian-based credit institution Argenta Spaarbank, which in the financial years 1999 and 2000 (tax yea…