Mnster tax court refers to ECJ treaty-override provision in German Foreign Tax Law re low-taxed passive foreign PE income

The local tax court (Finanzgericht) of Mnster recently requested a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) regarding the compatibility of a treaty-override provision under the Foreign Tax Law (Auensteuergesetz), which provides for a switch-over from the exemption method to the credit method in respect of low-taxed passive foreign permanent establishment (PE) income, with the basic freedoms under the EC Treaty (case 15 K 1114/99 F, EW, decision of 5 July 2005). Details of the …