The main aim of this Master's thesis is to set down individual factors which may affect corporate tax revenues in the Czech Republic. These criteria are selected based on the studies of the trends in the corporate tax revenues and then thoroughly analyzed. Furthermore, thesis consists of corporate tax revenue as a percentage of GDP comparison among chosen OECD countries with emphasis on the Czech Republic. Integral part of thesis is also formed by a regression analysis which examines the impact of the opted factors on corporate tax revenues.

This thesis empirically studies the relation between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax avoidance. Based on a sample of 3304 observations between 2002 and 2014, I find that the CSR score of companies is negatively related to their effective tax rate. This indicates that on average, responsible companies are more involved in tax avoidance activities compared to less responsible companies. This result is robust against different sets of control variables. The results of this thesis are contrary towards previous research, where most studies find a negative relation between CSR and tax avoidance. In addition, I examine how four dimensions of CSR are related to corporate tax avoidance and I find that economic performance and environmental performance are positive significant related towards tax avoidance. This indicates that shareholder and client loyalty, as well as resource and emission reduction, relate to a higher extent of corporate tax avoidance.

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ABSTRACT This thesis analyzes the corporate income tax, more specifically related to foreign sourced income, and proposes a solution to reduce the desirability of tax inversions and restore the competitiveness of United States’ corporations. The paper introduces the topic and discusses why corporate taxation has returned to the forefront of political discussion. It then addresses early 2000s regulation passed in response to increased inversion activity of the late ‘90s and how that regulation failed to achieve its intended purpose. Then, the current laws will be introduced with a focus on corporate actions to circumvent these laws in order to reduce tax liabilities. Then, I will propose a solution that emphasizes altering the incentives of corporations as opposed to creating rules to prevent corporate actions.

One way a multinational corporation can further satisfy its primary objective, which is to maximize shareholder wealth, is to minimize the share of its income that is transferred through taxation to the various sovereign nations within which it does business. The profit maximizing firm attempts to maximize (minimize) taxable income in those jurisdictions where income tax burdens are the least (most) in such a way as to diminish the present value of its global total tax burden. While the US corporate income tax rate has remained relatively stable over the decades since most US income tax rates were last slashed as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, across the rest of the world, non-US corporate income tax rates have continued to fall. Even though the US statutory rate was among the lowest corporate income tax rates of any industrialized nation in 1988, by 2008, due to continuing rate decreases around the globe the US rate had become one of the highest corporate income tax rates amongst the G-8. In April of 2012, the US statutory rate as applied to corporate income became the highest among all the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD) countries. This study will examine the behavior of option intensive corporations during the late 1990's. Coinciding with the longest recorded economic expansion in the history of the United States and coupled with the so-called "internet bubble" during the second half of the decade, this period of rapid stock price appreciation was also a time when many highly profitable companies faced substantially lower current US tax liabilities due to the large tax deductions resulting from the employee exercise of increasing quantities of non-qualified stock options at substantial gains. Enormous tax losses reported by employee stock option granting firms were sufficient to eliminate not only current US corporate income tax liabilities but also several years of future tax liabilities for some firms. Previous research has documented an increasing proportion of US multinational corporate income recognized in foreign jurisdictions, thereby escaping the relatively high US corporate tax rates until the foreign profits are repatriated back into the US. Perhaps US corporate income tax rates are so high in comparison to equally suitable substitute foreign locations that many firms have relocated their income producing activities to lower taxed jurisdictions abroad. Or it may be that US multinational firms engage in various cross border income shifting techniques to avoid high US corporate income tax rates and reduce their overall global tax burden. Profitable option intensive firms in the late 1990's faced in effect lower US corporate income tax rates due to their extensive employee stock option deductions and resulting net operating loss carry-forwards. It is possible that these firms had more incentive to recognize income domestically than their non-option intensive corporate peers. Using a sample of the largest US firms comprising the NASDAQ-100 index on May 31, 2001, this study found evidence of higher US profitability among NASDAQ-100 multinational firms with the largest deductions resulting from the exercise of options by their employees during the 1997 - 2000 fiscal years suggesting that these firms where more likely to recognize or even generate income within US borders when facing effectively lower US corporate income tax rates. Such an observation has potential public policy implications and contributes to the literature on tax motivated income shifting behavior.

Purpose : The aim of this paper is to examine how companies which are subject to criticism for their tax avoidance strategies respond to such criticism by analyzing tax related disclosures in organizations’ annual reports as well as corporate social responsibility reports. Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative research design was applied using content analysis on annual and corporate social responsibility reports which were collected from the companies’ archives. The reports were selected in terms of the time that the tax avoidance scandal was exposed on media. Therefore, a three-year timeframe of reports was studied, one year before the scandal, the year of the scandal and one year after. The interpretation of the results was done using legitimacy theory. Findings : Three different disclosure strategies have been identified, namely accepting, challenging and influential strategies, which companies use in different ways A variation of responses to media criticism among the companies have been observed which indicates that there is not a framework of answering to media criticism for tax avoidance strategies. The study also illustrates that there is lack of disclosure strategies within the corporate social responsibility reports. Limitations/Implications: The data were collected only from annual reports and CSR reports; other corporate releases were not taken into consideration. The selected companies include one European company and five U.S. companies Originality/Value: The paper contributes to the understanding on how multinationals who are key actors use different response strategies for aggressive tax management as well as provides important information to tax administrators. Furthermore, a theoretical basis on linking corporate response strategies to media criticism based on a legitimacy framework is provided, which could facilitate managers in dealing with the public criticism when their legitimacy is threatened.

With the ambition to reduce compliance costs for multinational enterprises within the European Union, but also in order to reduce the erosion of the tax base through transfer pricing and harmful tax competition among member states, the European Commission has promised to deliver a proposal for a Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) by the end of 2008. A vast literature has since emerged on the advantages and disadvantages of a move towards formulary apportionment (CCCTB). Whilst no official proposal has yet been submitted by the European Union, several documents have since been released. It is the novel contribution of this paper to critically evaluate the proposal itself. We argue that the formula is overly complex and should be simplified to source and destination based revenue weights only. (author´s abstract) / Series: Discussion Papers SFB International Tax Coordination

This diploma thesis deals with the corporate tax, specifically with the comparison of the rules for the creation of the tax base in the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Cyprus and the Netherlands. The target of the thesis is to find out major differences in the structure of the corporate tax base, to assess the profitability of the systems for foreign investors and to formulate the recommendations for the Czech Republic. The thesis describes the legislative regulations of the corporate taxes in particular countries. The comparative analysis and the summary of the results formulated in the final part of the thesis. Furthermore, statutory and effective tax rates are being compared, as well as the share of revenues from corporate tax on gross domestic product and on total tax revenues.

Determining with certainty how the tax authorities will treat a particular financial instrument issued is not straightforward, and this poses a risk to corporate taxpayers tasked with generating shareholder value and predictable shareholder returns. The tax classification of financial instruments, as either debt or equity instruments, may have a profound impact from a corporate taxation perspective and the reclassification of financial instruments by a tax authority, in an unanticipated manner, can alter expected tax consequences. Previous studies have placed less emphasis on the potential discrepancies between the debt or equity classification of financial instruments from a tax-versus-corporate-reporting perspective and the reasons for such potential discrepancies. This study aims to identify potential factors, giving rise to divergent financial instrument classifications between tax and financial reporting, in order to gain insight into the reasons for the potential divergence. The research objectives of the study are to determine whether there is incongruity between the tax and accounting classification of selected financial instruments; to identify the factors giving rise to a possible incongruent outcome; and to evaluate the reasons for incongruity, in order to gain insight into the differing objectives of taxation and corporate reporting. Case studies were obtained from the technical department of a large accountancy firm in South Africa to analyse specific fact patterns. It was found that incongruence exists between the financial reporting and taxation classification of financial instruments from the perspective of the issuer of those instruments. This incongruence was attributed to the impact of contingent settlement provisions and the rules-based approach adopted by tax authorities, as opposed to the principle or substance-based approach favoured by financial reporting. The incongruence noted suggests that, based on their differing objectives, financial reporting favours the classification of financial instruments as debt whilst taxation favours the classification of financial instruments as equity. Although the approaches currently followed by financial reporting and taxation are different, recent taxation amendments have incorporated financial reporting guidance into the Income Tax Act 58 of 1962. Future research can be conducted to determine the impact of aligning financial reporting and taxation principles on tax certainty from a taxpayer perspective. / Dissertation (MCom)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / lmchunu2014 / Taxation / unrestricted