Direktivet tilsigter således at undgå økonomisk dobbeltbeskatning af udbytte, der udloddes af et datterselskab med hjemsted i en medlemsstat til dets moderselskab med hjemsted i en anden medlemsstat, dvs. at undgå, at det udloddede udbytte først beskattes hos datterselskabet, og dernæst beskattes hos moderselskabet (jf. i denne retning Athinaïki Zythopoiia-dommen, præmis 5).
The directive aims thus to avoid double taxation, in economic terms, of profits which a subsidiary established in one Member State distributes to its parent company established in another Member State, in other words, to avoid taxation of distributed profits, first, in the hands of the subsidiary and, then, in the hands of the parent company (see, to that effect, AthinaikiZithopiia, paragraph 5).