Ryškėjančios naujos valstybių narių tiesioginio apmokestinimo tendencijos

Abstract

Although direct taxation falls within the competence of Member States, the latter must none the less exercise that competence consistently with Community law. This phrase probably has been used by the European Court of Justice in nearly each case where the national direct tax rule was questioned on the basis of the Fundamental Freedoms of the EC Treaty. Having no intention to raise any doubts as to the soundness and validity of the aforesaid phrase, one may ask another what are in fact those requirements of Community law that Member States should follow when exercising their competence in the area of direct taxation. Thus, being inspired by this question the author in this article first discusses the impact of the Fundamental Freedoms to the national direct taxation, then reveals the concepts of indirect discrimination and restrictions of non-discriminative nature, and finally analyses in depth the national dividend taxation rules of the Lithuanian Law on company profit tax as well as provides his opinion as to compatibility of these rules to the relevant jurisprudence of European of Court of Justice. Author thinks that certain provisions of Lithuanian Law on Company Profit Tax provide more favourable tax treatment of residents than of non-residents and are therefore capable of creating discrimination. Futhermore, certain Lithuanian taxation rules potentially create a restriction that is prohibited by the EC Treaty because they have an effect of dissuading taxpayers from exploiting their rights and liberties enshrined in the EC Treaty or make the employment of the Fundamental Freedoms less attractive. Therefore the necessary amendments to the respective legal acts should be made so that not only potential discrimination, but also a potential restriction on the Fundamental Freedoms would be excluded.