Courses

    This course provides a comparative overview of corporate income taxation in the member states of the European Union and the countries that have been invited to join the European Union in June 2004. The course focuses on key characteristics of corporate taxation – such as the relation between taxation of corporations and their shareholders, the determination of taxable profits, transfer pricing, thin capitalization, anti-avoidance doctrines, regimes for relieving double taxation of inter-company dividends, and reorganizations.

The course also strives to give the students broad insight into the way European “legislation” influences the corporate tax systems of the EU Member States by examining, in particular, domestic implementation of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive and the Merger Directive. Furthermore, the course provides an introduction to European tax law and its interpretation by exploring case law from the European Court of Justice relating to the corporation tax of EU Member States. Finally, the course focuses on recent developments in the European harmonization process. Students who successfully complete this course will have a broad knowledge and understanding of the corporate tax systems in various European countries as well as an overview of the process of European harmonization of corporate taxation.