Compensation of Losses in Foreign Subsidiaries within the EU

This study commences in the problems related to the restricted possibilities for cross-border groups to take losses incurred in foreign subsidiaries into account upon taxation. These difficulties lead to the situation where the overall tax burden of the group, seen as an economic unit, might exceed its economic capacity. Such over taxation is likely to cause the cross-border group cash-flow disadvantages, liquidity problems, reduced expansion possibilities and it might also effect the organisation and location of the group''s business activities. The study has two aims; firstly to analyse unilateral cross-border compensation of losses in foreign subsidiaries de lege lata, and secondly to analyse the consequences of different alternatives, as well as refraining from taking specific measures, upon opening up a unilateral system to cover also foreign losses de lege ferenda. In these respects, the experiences from the Austrian and Danish unilateral loss-compensation systems, under which losses incurred in foreign subsidiaries are acknowledged, serve as valuable sources of information.