Suchergebnisse

Aggressive tax planning efforts of highly profitable multinational companies (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)) have become the subject of intense public debate in recent years. As a response, several international initiatives and parties have called for more transparency in financial reporting, especially by means of a Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR). In line with that, the OECD and the European Commission have recently presented proposals for a comprehensive disclosure of country-specific tax-related information for companies in all industry sectors. In our paper, we demonstrate that neither consolidated or individual financial statements nor other existing data sources seem to be an appropriate basis for providing such country-specific information. Instead, it would be necessary to define detailed and harmonized definitions and regulations to ensure comparability. The discussion on benefits and costs of a CbCR reveals that benefits (at least partially) lack a theoretical foundation and, overall, do not seem to outweigh associated costs. This holds true, in particular, since current tax planning activities are mainly based on the legal exploitation of gaps and loopholes in national and international tax law. Instead, we argue that tax legislators should limit profit shifting by enforcing tax rules and by closing gaps in tax law. In particular, we call for more tightened and standardized transfer pricing regulations and thin-cap rules to be adopted at an international level.

Aggressive tax planning efforts of highly profitable multinational companies (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)) have recently become the subject of intense public debate. As a response, several international initiatives and parties have called for more transparency in financial reporting, especially by means of a country-specific reporting of certain tax information (Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR)). In our paper, we demonstrate that neither consolidated nor individual financial accounts seem to be an appropriate platform to provide such country-specific information and, therefore, that CbCR cannot be based on extended financial accounting standards. Moreover, we argue that even separate CbCR templates do not prevent multinationals from profit shifting, since their common tax minimization strategies are mainly based on the legal exploitation of gaps and loopholes in national and international tax law. In that regard, we show that expected costs for CbCR would exceed expected benefits and therefore contend that CbCR cannot be regarded as a convincing measure to combat international profit shifting. Instead, we argue that tax legislators should limit profit shifting by enforcing national and international tax rules and by closing gaps in tax law. In particular, we call for more tightened and standardized transfer pricing regulations to be adopted at an international level.

The combined effects of global warming and land-use conversion to human-modified systems are threatening biodiversity and ecosystem processes maintained by tropical mountains. To assess and predict the impact of global change on these ecosystems, it is crucial to understand the drivers and mechanisms of biodiversity and ecosystem processes. For instance, the study of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) cycles is of key importance, as they encompass fundamental ecosystem processes such as carbon sequestration and storage, fluxes of C and N among ecosystem components as well as soil nitrogen turnover...

The Atlantic Forest biome is well known as one of the mostly biodiversity regions on earth, hosting high species endemism and species/area ratio. It stretches around 1,300,000 km2 along the Brazilian coast between latitudes 3º and 33º S and longitudes 35º and 57º E. Due to the increase of human impact through the intensification of land-use and consequent broad landscape replacement along the centuries, only 10-15% of the Atlantic Forest biome remains in a natural or semi-natural state, being considered one of the most priority areas for conservation. It encompasses a wide variation of clim...

The Atlantic Forest biome is well known as one of the mostly biodiversity regions on earth, hosting high species endemism and species/area ratio. It stretches around 1,300,000 km2 along the Brazilian coast between latitudes 3º and 33º S and longitudes 35º and 57º E. Due to the increase of human impact through the intensification of land-use and consequent broad landscape replacement along the centuries, only 10-15% of the Atlantic Forest biome remains in a natural or semi-natural state, being considered one of the most priority areas for conservation. It encompasses a wide variation of clim...