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Firms and Tax Havens: Evidence from the Czech Republic
Burianová, Markéta ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Paulus, Michal (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to provide a description of the phenomenon of tax havens in relation to the Czech Republic. The thesis begins with description of theoretical background of the problem. It provides definition, characteristics, and an overview of main uses of tax havens by Czech firms. This part is followed by analysis of Czech firms controlled from tax havens in order to determine what type of firms is most often leaving the Czech Republic. The analysis showed the largest interest from limited liability companies and companies operating in real estate. The next part of the thesis presents an estimate of tax loss arising from tax haven activities of Czech subjects. It is the first estimate of this kind for the Czech Republic. The resulting tax loss is estimated to be 21 billion CZK per year, which equals to approximately 10% of annual tax revenue from corporate and personal income tax. The thesis is concluded with an overview of counter-measures that are taken worldwide and in the Czech Republic as means of combating the rising phenomenon of tax havens.
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Abuse of law as a limit for tax planning
Kamínková, Petra ; Karfíková, Marie (advisor) ; Vybíral, Roman (referee)
in English Abuse of law as a limit for tax planning This thesis deals with the role of abuse of law concept in determining the limits of tax planning. The most significant topics addressed in this theses include the relationship between abuse of law and related concepts of circumvention of law and substance over form, acceptability of the subjective criterion of abuse, and the relationship between the abuse-of-law concept and teleological interpretation. I conclude that abuse of law is a convenient term to label certain teleological interpretations. Subjective criterion focusing on scope, artificiality or rationality of the transaction or taxpayer's intent should not by itself lead to the conclusion of abuse. Abuse of law and circumvention of law are, despite their linguistic differentiation, so related that they can be described as two sides of the same coin. Finally, the substance-over-form concept, understood in the Czech legal doctrine as a separate concept, fulfills the criteria of abuse, and can therefore be considered as its subpart.
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Earnings Management under Financial Distress Conditions, the Effect of Tax Considerations
Britskiy, Andrey ; Novák, Jiří (advisor) ; Palanský, Miroslav (referee)
This master thesis attempts to contribute to the existing earnings management literature by examining whether tax avoidance incentives affect opportunistic accounting choices in distress conditions. To address this issue, it investigates 2668 companies in the quarters around breach of debt covenant spanning from 1996 to 2006. This allows to analyze two distress scenarios: first, whether the companies having the opportunity to minimize tax expenses and thus improve their financial stability, would deliberately switch from engaging in aggressive upwards real earnings management to tax considerations to mitigate the potential consequences of technical default; second, whether the companies facing increased lender's scrutiny after subsequent violation are compelled to switch by the creditor. The results indicate that tax considerations do not deter misreporting in the quarters around debt covenant violation. This thesis further provides evidence against the debt covenant hypothesis: the companies in the analyzed sample engaged in negative revenue manipulation in the quarters of new breach of debt covenant and in the quarters in which the firms remained in violation. In additional analysis, it was found that the above relationship is more prominent for the companies exhibiting poor financial performance.
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The Scale of Corporate Profit Shifting out of the United States
Stárek, Martin ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Vacek, Pavel (referee)
There is a large body of literature indicating that profits are shifted into countries with better conditions, i.e. lower tax rates. It was showed that the problem is nonlinear. However, precise estimates are missing in the available literature. In this thesis we improved the precision by allowing for nonlinearity, time-variant tax semi-elasticity of profits and financial secrecy is a driver of the profit shifting. We showed that all three elements of the estimation are very important. Our analysis suggests that the profit shifting problem started at the turn of millennium and increases since, with some temporal drops. The highest amount of profit shifted out of the United States was almost 300 billion of U.S. dollars with the consequent revenue loss of 62.3 billion of U.S. dolars.
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Legal aspects of tax planning in the direct tax area
Kamínková, Petra ; Karfíková, Marie (advisor) ; Boháč, Radim (referee) ; Papoušková, Zdenka (referee)
Title in English: Legal aspects of tax planning in the direct tax area Abstract: In 2012, the European Commission published its Recommendation on aggressive tax planning (2012/772/EU). To counteract aggressive tax planning, Member States should adopt a general anti-abuse rule (GAAR), which is drafted in the Recommendation. At that time, no one knew that GAARs would become obligatory for member states from 2019. In 2013, Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) started the BEPS Project, which is considered the biggest revolution in the international tax law system since its creation in the 1950s. I introduce these initiatives and the legal instruments they bring. I focus on GAARs, which I consider to be the most important instruments. Their vagueness allows them to tackle any tax planning scheme. Their importance in the direct tax area grows as they become part of tax treaties based on the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting signed on 7 July 2017 and part of the national legal systems of the EU member states based on the Council Directive (EU) 2016/1164 of 12 July 2016, laying down rules against tax avoidance practices that directly affect the functioning of the internal market. First part of this thesis focuses on...
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Circumvention of the law, real contents of legal acts and the abuse of law in relation to tax planning
Horák, Milan ; Boháč, Radim (advisor) ; Kohajda, Michael (referee)
The purpose of my thesis is to analyze and characterize circumvention of the law, real content of legal acts and abuse of law in relation to tax planning. To combat tax abuse tax administrator has these three instruments available which in turn set limits of tax planning. The thesis is composed of four chapters. Chapter One differentiates between tax planning, tax abuse and tax evasion as different methods of lowering tax liability. Chapter Two consists of four subchapters, first three containing analysis and characteristic of circumvention of the law, real contents of legal acts and abuse of law. Each of these subchapters builds upon general definition which is then refined by case law of the Supreme Administrative Court and concludes with typical cases. The fourth subchapter deals with "tax evasion by other means" which some authors consider a similar instrument. The third chapter summarizes the current legislative state of these instruments and offers some thoughts de lege ferenda. The fourth chapter contains deeper analysis of the most important case law relating to individual instruments. Chapter Four should serve the reader as a reference while reading Chapter Two. Thesis illustrates the most typical cases of each individual instrument and concludes that the abuse of law doctrine is the most...
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Firms and Tax Havens: Evidence from the Czech Republic
Burianová, Markéta ; Janský, Petr (advisor) ; Paulus, Michal (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to provide a description of the phenomenon of tax havens in relation to the Czech Republic. The thesis begins with description of theoretical background of the problem. It provides definition, characteristics, and an overview of main uses of tax havens by Czech firms. This part is followed by analysis of Czech firms controlled from tax havens in order to determine what type of firms is most often leaving the Czech Republic. The analysis showed the largest interest from limited liability companies and companies operating in real estate. The next part of the thesis presents an estimate of tax loss arising from tax haven activities of Czech subjects. It is the first estimate of this kind for the Czech Republic. The resulting tax loss is estimated to be 21 billion CZK per year, which equals to approximately 10% of annual tax revenue from corporate and personal income tax. The thesis is concluded with an overview of counter-measures that are taken worldwide and in the Czech Republic as means of combating the rising phenomenon of tax havens.
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Legislating against Tax Avoidance
Kamínková, Petra ; Boháč, Radim (advisor) ; Kohajda, Michael (referee)
Kamínková, Petra: Legislating against Tax Avoidance Abstract Tax avoidance practices of multinational corporations have recently come under criticism by governments and general public. In my thesis, I analyze various methods states may use to fight such behavior, with special regard given to the Czech Republic. In the first chapter, I introduce basic principles of international taxation. Second chapter focuses on several commonly used methods of avoiding taxes, and the tools used by governments to fight particular types of undesirable transactions and set-ups (Targeted Anti-Avoidance Rules - TAARs). The analysis therein suggests that these tools may be successful to a degree, but may never cover all possible scenarios. Third chapter elaborates on judicial doctrines and General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAARs). These tools attempt to address tax avoidance methods not anticipated by legislature. My contention is that while these concepts may be quite powerful, they may also gravely threaten legal certainty. Therefore, I conclude that they should be used sparingly. Final chapter presents a set of auxiliary tools that may improve the communication between tax payers and tax authorities, thus helping the states to gather information faster and more efficiently, allowing them to react to arising issues with minimal...
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Tax Havens and their Utilization
Fabian, Filip ; Sedlák, Vít (referee) ; Kopřiva, Jan (advisor)
The diploma thesis is focused on issues of the tax havens and their use in international tax optimization. The paper processed knowledge of tax planning and the need to optimize the tax burden of the tax payer, with the help of offshore landscapes. In the first one, there is the theoretical basis and the issue of tax havens and tax planning, which in practical part is followed by ananalysis of selected countries and the design of optimal structure of taxation.
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