Tax Residence and the Mobility of Companies in the European Union: The Desirable Harmonization of the Tax Connecting Factors

This article emphasizes the problems caused by the lack of harmonization of the connecting factors in order to determine the fiscal residence of companies. In practice, the current discussion on application of the freedom of establishment for companies has focused on the transfer of their seat within the EU. But no unifying or harmonizing measures has yet been adopted at the European level.

This absence of regulation enables EU Member States to establish their own criteria, which obviously may vary depending on each national legal system. In our view, notwithstanding the existing case law, the intervention of the European legislator is required in order to solve either the tax evasion, or the international double taxation that could arise from a corporate mobility situation. Undoubtedly, tax harmonization of the connecting factors would improve the economic integration in the EU, without significant interference in the fiscal sovereignty of the Member States.

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