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Luxembourg Types of Company:
In July, 2006, the European Commission ordered the government of Luxembourg to dismantle its system of tax breaks for financial holding companies, after concluding that the preferential tax regime in favour of Luxembourg’s Exempt, Milliardaire and 1929 Financial Holding companies violates EC Treaty state aid rules. (The existing regimes are described in Offshore Legal and Tax Regimes.) "It distorts competition and trade by altering the level playing field between financial undertakings and induces them to create dedicated structures in Luxembourg to reduce their current tax liabilities," the EC stated.
In June 2005, Luxembourg amended the 1929 law by abolishing the exempt status for holdings receiving more than 5% of their yearly dividend income from participating companies which have not been subject to a tax comparable to the one applied in Luxembourg. While this narrowed the scope of the law, the EC argued that the regime still constitutes state aid, as the tax advantages remain unchanged.
The Commission decision requires the scheme to be repealed by the end of 2006, while its effects for the existing holdings must be definitively eliminated by the end of 2010. This will allow the existing beneficiaries to exit from the holding structures without incurring tax penalties.
In June 2003, the Council of EU Finance Ministers considered that the Exempt Holdings’ exemption from dividends constituted a harmful tax measure within the EC Code of Conduct on business taxation, on the grounds that the exemption was not conditional upon the payment of a sufficient tax by the distributing company.
The Council recommended that Luxembourg eliminate this harmful legislation by 31st December 2010 at the latest.
However, in August, 2006, Tenaris, a leading global manufacturer of pipelines for the oil and gas industry, sought clarification of the decision by the European Commission.
Tenaris pointed out in a statement that under Article 2, paragraph 3, of the EC's decision, tax benefits would appear to terminate if all or part of the capital of holding companies is transferred during the transition period. Tenaris believes, based on the reasons that led the EC to allow a transition period, that the above described effect should not apply to listed companies with publicly-traded securities.
"As neither listed companies nor their shareholders are able to prevent trading in the listed companies’ shares, a different interpretation would defeat the purpose of the transition period that the EC deemed necessary to accommodate the expectations and reorganization needs of such companies and their shareholders," the company stated.
While Tenaris said it was "confident" that the EC of the government of Luxembourg would take steps to clarify the wording regarding capital transfers during the transition period, it intends to take "appropriate legal action" in the event the authorities fail timely to confirm Tenaris’s interpretation.
Version date: 07.05.06