Taxation of Non-Resident Institutional Investors in Finland – Recent Case Law and Developments

The Finnish tax provisions applicable to dividends and other investment income paid to non-resident institutional investors, particularly investment funds, pension funds and life assurance companies, are widely incompatible with EU law. In recent years the Finnish courts have issued several decisions on full or partial tax exemption granted to foreign institutional investors based on the free movement of capital and freedom of establishment provided by EU law, while the tax legislator has remained rather passive. This article examines the current tax practice based on the case law and discusses the problems relating to legal certainty due to various interpretations.