Comparability Of Investment Funds ' Another Finnish Referral To The Court Of Justice Of The European Union ' Another Positive Signal

• Published date: 25 October 2021
• Law Firm: ATOZ Tax Advisers
• Author: Mr Keith O'Donnell

Recently, an Advocate General's opinion (the "Opinion") on Finnish CJEU case C-342/20 (the "Case") has been published.

The Opinion is very interesting as the Case reviews the comparability of a foreign investment fund to Finnish funds and, consequently, the possibility for a foreign investment fund to obtain a withholding tax ("WHT") exemption in Finland.

The Case concerns the WHT treatment of a foreign corporate based investment fund, in this case a French Real Estate Investment Company. The essence of this Case is, however, related to the question whether the new Finnish tax regime applicable from the beginning of 2020 - allowing tax exemption only for foreign contractual based investment funds - is in line with the EU law. Although this Case concerns a French corporate based fund, the Finnish Supreme Court has decided to postpone their decisions on several cases related to US investment funds and wait for the...