The European Commission has formally requested The Netherlands to amend its tax legislation on “fiscal unities” (i.e. calculation of income tax of a group of companies on a consolidated basis).

Current Dutch legislation does not allow two Dutch subsidiary companies held by a foreign parent company to form a fiscal unity. In practice this means that companies which have their parent company in another Member State cannot benefit from the fiscal unity regime, which in the Commission's view is contrary to EU rules. The Commission's request takes the form of a reasoned opinion (the second step of EU infringement proceedings). In the absence of a satisfactory response within two months, the Commission may refer The Netherlands to the EU's Court of Justice.

For full details see http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/11/719&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en