About five years ago the European Court of Justice (ECJ) stated in an infringement proceeding against Germany (ECJ November 22, 2012 – C-600/10, OJ 2013 C 26/3) that the European Commission could not prove a violation of EU law caused by the final withholding tax levied on German dividends received by foreign pension funds.
Recently the Fiscal Court of Munich again referred said question to the European Court of Justice (FG München October23, 2017 – 7 K 1435/15). In this beinformed we explain why in our opinion this time a ruling approving that the final withholding tax in fact infringes the principle of the free movement of capital (Article 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union) is highly likely.