The question of finality of such losses is particularly ambiguous as the Company had first sold the assets of the Finnish Branch which therefore had ceased to exist, and then merged with its Danish subsidiary with also a branch in Finland. The latter lead the Danish authorities to question whether in fact a “re-establishment” of the former Finnish Branch had occurred, and whether therefore also the Finnish tax losses were re-established as available in Finland.
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The case is particularly challenging because there is really no legislation, EU or Finnish national, applicable based on which the availability of such losses could unambiguously be confirmed. There is neither practice by the European Court of Justice that would apply on the matter directly.
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Therefore, tax litigation in Finland was also to be initiated to obtain clarity and certainty. Once finally settled, this case is likely to be of utmost importance both in the EU and the Finnish national level and definitively set a precedent of ground-breaking nature.