Translation of "Anrechnungsmethode" in English

The credit method takes worldwide income into account in the company’s State of residence.

The credit method would be applied to eliminate double taxation.

The purpose of the second measure is to extend the imputation method.

These are generally known respectively as the "exemption" and "credit" methods.

Other types of specific anti-abuse provisions include switch-over from exemption to credit method in certain cross-border situations (where foreign source income has been subject to a low or preferential tax rate) and provisions explicitly targeted at passive investment in other countries.

Where the level of foreign tax is too low (tax rate below 10% or special regime), the exemption method is replaced by the imputation method.

Where the level of foreign tax is too low (tax rate below 10% or special regime), the exemption method is replaced by the imputation method.

This procedure avoids problems that might otherwise arise if the Home State and the Host State had agreed on different arrangements in their respective treaties with a third state, e.g. on the use of the credit method and the exemption method for certain income items.

It should be noted that if a Member State adopts the imputation system, it becomes compulsory for companies in that country.

Unlike the exemption method, the imputation method therefore does not enable the benefit of the corporation tax reductions granted at an earlier stage to the company paying dividends to be passed on to the corporate shareholder.

In its judgment delivered today, the Court recalls that EU law in principle permits a Member State to apply the exemption method to nationally-sourced dividends and the imputation method to foreign-sourced dividends.

It could nevertheless offset against that tax liability the tax that the company making the distribution had already paid in its country of residence on the profits thereby distributed (imputation method).

The exemption thus resembles grant of a tax credit calculated by reference to that nominal rate of tax and therefore the UK legislature, with a view to preserving the cohesion of the tax system, could also have taken account under the imputation method of the nominal rate of tax applicable to the company making the distribution and not of the tax that it had actually paid.

It follows that application of the imputation method to foreign-sourced dividends as prescribed by the legislation at issue does not ensure a tax treatment equivalent to that resulting from application of the exemption method to nationally-sourced dividends, and therefore the UK legislation must be regarded as a restriction on freedom of establishment and on capital movements that is prohibited by the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU.

By contrast, application of the imputation method to foreign-sourced dividends leads to an additional tax liability so far as concerns the resident company receiving them if the effective level of taxation to which the profits of the company paying the dividends were subject falls short of the nominal rate of tax to which the profits of the resident company receiving the dividends are subject.

The Court nevertheless observes that the exemption and imputation methods do not immediately cease to be equivalent as soon as exceptional cases exist in which nationally-sourced dividends are exempt although the profits out of which those dividends have been paid have not been subject in their entirety to an effective level of taxation corresponding to the nominal rate of tax.

When the imputation method to prevent economic double taxation applies, the parent company shall deduct from the tax on the distributed profits which it receives from its direct subsidiary that fraction of the tax paid not only by this direct subsidiary but also by successive subsidiaries downstream of the direct subsidiary.

By contrast, when foreign-sourced dividends were paid, the tax credit to which the company receiving the dividends was entitled pursuant to the imputation method was determined by taking account of the effective level of taxation of the profits in the State of origin.

The EESC finds that the switch to the credit method in cases where the level of foreign tax is too low is questionable, since this would affect not only abusive arrangements, but also normal business activities.

The switch to the imputation method in cases where the level of foreign tax is too low is questionable in that this does not only prevent undesired arrangements with companies that pay little tax in third countries, but may also affect normal business activities.

The general tendency is towards substitution of proportional (ordinary) crediting in Polish tax treaties with progressive exclusion (exemption) as the basic method.