CORPORATE INCOME TAX: A EUROPEAN CONTEXT

• Autor(a) principal: David, Fátima
• Data de Publicação: 2007
• Outros Autores: Gallego, Isabel
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10314/990
• topic: Corporate Income Tax; Accounting context; Fiscal context; European Union

This research is focused on corporate income tax and the authors examine theoretically the relationship between accounting and fiscal standards. Although the international accounting system is very well developed, some difficulties appear as a result of the particularities of the different taxation systems of each country. Thus, those aspects that influence more the corporate income tax system are the result of the multinational phenomenon that firms face in a global society. The authors present and discuss the fact that corporate income tax that is not defined in the same way in all the European Union (EU) member states, in spite of being calculated in agreement with the generally accepted accounting principles, and that this affects what appears in financial reports. Also, there exist among the EU member states significant differences in application: for example amortization methods, different fiscal incentives to promote investment in specific geographical areas, and several treatments of revenue and capital expenses. The adoption of accounting standards among the EU member states revolves around accounting harmonization. However, the authors argue that, in the same measure, several legislations that regulate corporate income tax could equally be utilised to facilitate fiscal harmonization.