The complex situation of intermediary holding companies in the EU after the CJEU landmark decisions on the “Danish cases”

In this article, we analyse the main implications for European intermediary holding companies in light of the Court of Justice of the EU landmark decisions on the Danish cases. Herein, the Court established a simultaneously relevant and complex doctrine on the interpretation of anti-abuse rules and principles, derived from Directives 2003/123/ EC “Parent-Subsidiary” and 2003/49/CE, “Interest and Royalties”. By carefully studying the Court’s decisions one has to acknowledge that the doctrine set forward by the CJEU in the Danish cases impacts significantly on the general concept of abusive tax practice and will also produce consequences on the use of “intermediary holding companies” located in EU Member States, in regard to the tax exemption entitlements provided by European Directives