On 19 March 2009, the European Commission announced that it had decided to refer Germany to the European Court of Justice over its rules on taxation of outbound dividend payments to companies, as Germany did not comply with the Commission's reasoned opinion. Austria and Germany tax outbound dividends (dividends paid by resident companies to non-resident shareholders) more heavily than domestic dividends (dividends paid by resident companies to resident shareholders). Domestic dividends are in practice exempt from tax, whereas outbound dividends are subject to withholding taxes ranging from 5% to 25%. Referring to the decision of the European Court of Justice...