Study on structures of aggressive tax planning and indicators : executive summary

In the wake of the financial crisis and the subsequent economic downturn, corporate tax avoidance and tax planning have received a great deal of attention from policymakers and the media. The topic is high on the political agenda within the OECD/G20, the EU and a number of individual countries, which have increased initiatives to ensure that taxation duly takes place where economic value is generated and where the economic activity is actually carried out. Against this background, the EU Commission finds it necessary to improve the knowledge of the tax laws and practices of EU Member States, which may expose particular jurisdictions to aggressive tax planning (ATP). As a result, the present study has been commissioned to: 1. Identify model ATP structures 2. Based on the ATP structures, identify ATP indicators which facilitate or allow ATP 3. Review the corporate income tax systems of the EU Member States by means of the ATP indicators, in order to identify those tax rules and practices (or lack thereof) that result in Member States being vulnerable to ATP The study carried out by Ramboll and Corit Advisory, with the support of a network of independent national tax experts, is the first one of its kind. It reviews and assesses the corporate income tax systems of all EU Member States using a tailored methodology that is systematic, simple and easy to communicate. Although a more indepth and circumstantiated analysis would be needed in order to investigate and possibly address specific cases of national tax systems being at risk of aggressive tax planning, it is hoped that this study provides useful information for policy makers with a view to improving the functioning of the national tax systems of EU Member States.