Canadian pension plans facing unexpected taxes in EU countries: PIAC
Canadian pension plans are facing unforeseen taxation of dividends in European Union countries like Germany and the Netherlands, said the Pension Investment Association of Canada.
In an open letter, the PIAC said its members have endured a discriminatory dividend taxation relative to settled European tax law and the free movement of capital within the EU over the last decade.
“Canadian pension plans are seeing discriminatory and distortive taxation, resulting in penalties from broad applications of the ‘free movement of capital provision’ in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union by the two countries,” said the letter, noting these interpretations of the rules are a way of re-litigating settled law from the Court of Justice of the European Union.
The PIAC is asking the European Commission — the executive body of the EU in charge of monitoring the implementation of new laws and policies — to review and assess the taxation practices of EU member states on Canadian pension plans to enforce a more harmonized adherence to settled European tax law.
“These discriminatory and distortive tax practices jeopardize the reputation of European capital markets and the reliability of the EU legal and tax system.”
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