Preface This book contains the proceedings of the International Tax Conference on the c- th th mon consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) that was held in Berlin on 15 – 16 may 2007. The conference was jointly organised by the German Federal Ministry of Finance, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, and the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law, Munich. More than 250 participants from all over Europe and other regions, scholars, politicians, business people and tax administrators, discussed the Eu- pean Commission’s proposal to establish a CCCTB. Three panels of tax experts evaluated the common tax base with respect to structural elements, consolidation, allocation, international aspects and administration. The conference made clear that the CCCTB has the potential to overcome some of the most intriguing problems of corporate income taxation within the Common Market. Common tax accounting rules substantially reduce compliance and administrative costs. Consolidation of a group’s profits and losses effects cro- border loss compensation which removes a major tax obstacle for European cro- border investment. At the same time, tax planning with respect to financing and transfer pricing is pushed back within the European Union. Moreover, as far as the CCCTB applies, member states are able to remove tax provisions that are targeted at cross border tax evasion and that might be challenged by the jurisdiction of the Eu- pean Court of Justice.

Preface This book contains the proceedings of the International Tax Conference on the c- th th mon consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) that was held in Berlin on 15 – 16 may 2007. The conference was jointly organised by the German Federal Ministry of Finance, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, and the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law, Munich. More than 250 participants from all over Europe and other regions, scholars, politicians, business people and tax administrators, discussed the Eu- pean Commission’s proposal to establish a CCCTB. Three panels of tax experts evaluated the common tax base with respect to structural elements, consolidation, allocation, international aspects and administration. The conference made clear that the CCCTB has the potential to overcome some of the most intriguing problems of corporate income taxation within the Common Market. Common tax accounting rules substantially reduce compliance and administrative costs. Consolidation of a group’s profits and losses effects cro- border loss compensation which removes a major tax obstacle for European cro- border investment. At the same time, tax planning with respect to financing and transfer pricing is pushed back within the European Union. Moreover, as far as the CCCTB applies, member states are able to remove tax provisions that are targeted at cross border tax evasion and that might be challenged by the jurisdiction of the Eu- pean Court of Justice.

The book considers the impact of the CCCTB from the perspective of non-EU-based enterprises that are carrying on business in the EU through the operation of branches or subsidiaries in member states. It incorporates the perspectives of leading scholars

In October 2016, the European Commission relaunched its plan to harmonize national income tax systems via the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB), perhaps the most ambitious reform of EU tax law ever attempted. This timely book offers an early analysis of this important proposal and its implications, covering issues such as the project’s scope and main elements, international considerations, the relationship with OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative, consolidation, and anti-abuse rules. With carefully selected papers first presented at a January 2017 conference hosted by the Amsterdam Centre for Tax Law, this volume focuses on such topics and issues as the following: – ways in which the proposed CCCTB is designed to preserve the competence of Member States to set their own tax rates; – reduction of the administrative burden for multinational companies; – incentives for research and development; – automatic cross-border relief within the EU; – detailed analysis of the proposal’s formula apportionment regime; – proposed new controlled foreign company (CFC) rules; and – interest limitation rule. Because of the commitment of many Member States to keep their corporate income tax systems competitive on a stand-alone basis, the proposed CCCTB is enormously controversial. This book provides authoritative insights into problems likely to arise and discusses the prospects of how the proposal is likely to be implemented. Thus, this book proves to be of immeasurable value to taxation policymakers, practitioners, and academics.

Carsten Wendt analyses the necessity, the concept as well as potential advantages and effects of a common tax base for multinational enterprises in the European Union. He addresses important issues concerning a common tax base, such as the definition of the consolidated group, the technique and scope of consolidation and the formula used to allocate the consolidated tax base among the involved member states.

The European Commission envisages putting forward a proposal for a tax reform that would allow improving the efficiency and simplicity of the corporate income tax systems. This report assesses the impact of a Common Corporate Tax Base (CCTB) on the size of the corporate tax bases of EU companies. The results of the report shall help to evaluate the economic consequences of the introduction of a harmonised set of tax accounting rules. The estimates are based on the European Tax Analyzer with data from the year 2006 and apply options specified by the Commission’s Steering Group.