The Dutch taxman could be forced to pay out hundreds of millions of pounds to UK pension funds following a tax case in the European Court of Justice.

In the case, known as Amurta, the courts ruled that the Dutch government could not charge withholding tax on non-residents while letting Dutch residents receive dividends tax-free.

Experts suggest that the ruling will apply across Europe, and pension funds could be the biggest beneficiaries.

The biggest winners from this case and a similar case, Denkavit, would be pension and investment funds, with at least 500m Euros (£348m) in claims likely to emanate from UK funds, according to Jonathan Bridges of KPMG's international corporate tax team.

'We would estimate that claims relating to today's case must already exceed EUR500m from UK funds and are in the region of EUR400m from German funds. The decision closely follows the Denkavit decision of last year which struck down the French withholding tax rules.'

Further reading:

EU warns of legislation on tax co-ordination

Treasury steels itself for massive tax hit from ECJ

Funds could save millions following ECJ Denkavit ruling