The Impact of Tax Planning on Forward-Looking Effective Tax Rates

The Impact of Tax Planning on Forward-Looking Effective Tax Rates

As a consequence of the financial crisis, the taxation of multinationals is back high on the political agenda. The European Commission came up with an Action Plan in 2012 setting out over 30 measures to combat tax fraud and tax evasion. An extensive assessment of the IP Box regimes was launched in 2013 and changes were enacted for hybrid financial instruments and the general anti-abuse rule.To assess the level of taxation for corporations, forward-looking effective tax rates using the Devereux-Griffith approach are computed by ZEW on a yearly basis for the European Commission. Given the recent developments in the international tax system, the study at hand modifies the model to take into account the possibility of more sophisticated tax planning strategies by multinationals and the existence of preferential tax regimes such as IP boxes.

Project members

Christoph Spengel

Christoph Spengel

Research Associate

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Prof. Dr. Jost Heckemeyer

Prof. Dr. Jost Heckemeyer

Project Coordinator

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Client/Allowance
European Commission, DG Taxation and Costums Union, Brüssel, BE