Deductibility of Interest Incurred on Loans Used to Finance Dividend Distributions: Three Cases from Central Europe

In this article the authors outline three recent cases from the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria that deal with the deductibility of interest incurred on loans used to finance dividend distributions, wherein the courts held that the expenses were deductible due to the link between the expenses and taxable income. The tax laws of the Czech Republic, Poland and Austria do not explicitly address this issue. The relevant supreme administrative courts, however, share a strong view that such interest costs should be treated as tax deductible.