Joachim Englisch

University of Münster | WWU · Tax

This article studies foreseeable effects that a relatively comprehensive implementation of the Pillar 2 GloBE international effective minimum tax would have on international tax competition for investment. The discussion focuses on the perspective of countries that seek to attract foreign direct investment through their tax system. The paper shows...

Joint audits have the potential to facilitate tax collection and at the same time enhance tax certainty for taxpayers. However, the several European Union (EU) pilot projects initiated by certain Member States made it evident that a better regulatory framework was urgently needed. The EU legislator therefore used the opportunity of the sixth amendm...

Since July 2021, more than 130 member countries of the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework (IF) have committed themselves to pursuing a ‘common approach’ on an international effective minimum tax regime. This political agreement implies that member countries who wish to implement such a tax regime have to streamline its design by modelling it after the so...

The concept and scope of implementing powers under Article 291 (2) TFEU have been subject to debate ever since the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, and even prior to this in the general context of constitutional reform of the European Union (EU). In particular, the relationship between implementing powers and delegated powers—the latter regulat...

Un grupo de académicos asociados a la Tax Justice Network (TJN) ha propuesto recientemente la aplicación de un tipo impositivo mínimo efectivo internacional (METR) para las multinacionales. El METR se ha concebido como una versión revisada y modificada del concepto de impuesto mínimo global de GloBE que actualmente persigue el Marco Inclusivo sobre...

We analyze the unilateral introduction of a destination-based corporate cash-flow tax system (DBT), as proposed by Auerbach and Devereux (AEJ Policy 2018). We show that, first, the DBT rate is decision-neutral only if the source tax country makes the DBT payments deductible from its tax base. Second, a unilateral DBT introduction is, in many aspect...

It is often overlooked that within the EU, tax concessions and advantageous tax procedures can constitute prohibited State aid not only in the field of direct taxation, but also within the framework of the harmonised system of EU VAT. The potential for conflict has indeed increased in recent years, because the European Court of Justice (CJEU) has s...

Auf internationaler Ebene wird aktuell über ein System effektiver internationaler Mindeststeuern auf die Gewinne multinationaler Unternehmen verhandelt, das bis Ende 2020 beschlossen werden soll. Eine Mindeststeuer könnte die Effizienz und Effektivität der internationalen Besteuerung deutlich steigern und den Steuerwettbewerb abmildern. Sie stellt...

According to the OECD and the EU Commission, profits should be taxed ‘where value is created’. A commonly accepted definition of the term ‘value creation’ is so far lacking, however. This article offers a pragmatic and contextualized analysis of the new ‘value creation’ paradigm and examines its implications for international tax policy in the era...

According to the OECD and the EU Commission, profits should be taxed 'where value is created'. A commonly accepted definition of the term 'value creation' is so far lacking, however. This article offers a pragmatic and contextualized analysis of the new 'value creation' paradigm and examines its implications for international tax policy in the era...

Unternehmen der digitalen Wirtschaft wie Google, Facebook, Amazon usw. sind in Europa allgegenwärtig, zahlen aber nur wenig Steuern. Die Finanzminister einiger wichtiger EU-Mitgliedstaaten haben deshalb eine umsatzbasierte Ausgleichsteuer auf Internetunternehmen vorgeschlagen. Ein solches Steuerinstrument verletzt jedoch wesentliche Regeln des inte...

Deutschland ist eines der wenigen Länder ohne steuerliche Instrumente zur Förderung der Entwicklung oder Verwertung von geistigem Eigentum. Aktuell wird aber hierzulande über deren Einführung diskutiert. Ein mögliches Instrument wäre eine output-orientierte Patentbox-Regelung, die Einnahmen und Gewinne aus der Nutzung geistigen Eigentums bevorzugt...

In principle, loan intermediary services that are provided by banks and other financial institutions are not recognized as such in the European VAT system. Instead, the VAT regime follows a commercial law perspective and regards the granting of credit as the relevant supply; consequently, the full interest payment is considered to represent the con...

The EU VAT treatment of financial investments is complex. The general approach under the VAT Directive is an exemption without credit, regarding both financial transactions as such and ancillary services. However, to a considerable degree financial investments remain outside the scope of VAT, whereas a few related services are actually taxed. Moreo...

Die neue US-Regierung plant eine radikale Unternehmensteuerreform. Sie zielt auf eine cashflow-basierte Besteuerung nach dem Bestimmungslandprinzip, wie es in Europa für die Mehrwertsteuer gilt. Die Autoren sind der Auffassung, dass die unilaterale Einführung einer solchen Steuer die Handelspartner der USA, vor allem die EU, vor große Herausforderu...

In the last decades, VAT/GST systems have proliferated across the globe and have usually replaced any eventual cumulative turnover taxes or retail sales taxes (RST) previously operated in the respective country of adoption. However, the input VAT credit inherent to a VAT/GST facilitates some particular types of tax fraud which are absent in a turno...

As envisaged in the Green Book on the Future of VAT, the EU Commission is preparing a fundamental reform of the EU VAT regime for B2B cross-border trade in goods. To this effect, it commissioned a study on five possible reform options that was recently published and discussed by stakeholders at a Fiscalis Seminar. This paper analyses the outcome of...

Indirect taxes account for roughly half or even more of the tax revenue in most Member States of the European Union (EU). Most of those taxes are riddled with exemptions, reduced rates, or other preferential regimes which could potentially constitute State aid within the meaning of Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) Article 107(...

Taxation inevitably gives rise to tax planning. In the era of globalization, multinationals in particular may not only try to exploit options, inconsistencies and gaps in domestic tax legislation, but they will also (re-)organize their business so as to make an optimal use of international tax sheltering opportunities. In order to curb ‘aggressive’...

The very first direct tax case scrutinized by the European Court of Justice (ECJ) by applying the EC fundamental freedoms concerned dividend taxation. Ever since, most of the fundamental questions related to the scope of the fundamental freedoms and their relationship to aspects of the Member States’ fiscal sovereignty have crystallized in the fiel...

Der Topos „Europäisches Primärrecht und mitgliedstaatliches Steuerrecht“ weckt meist Assoziationen an die Implikationen von Grundfreiheiten und Beihilfeverbot im Recht der direkten Steuern. Daneben besteht aber noch ein zweites bedeutsames Einfallstor für eine primärrechtliche Einwirkung auf das nationale Steuerrecht: Die Bindung des Richtliniengeb...

In principle, European Community Member States enjoy procedural autonomy regarding the administration of Community law. However, this principle often clashes with the fundamental requirements of uniform application and full effect of Community law. In particular, conflicts arise when administrative acts violate primary or secondary EC law but are n...

Deutschland befindet sich inmitten einer intensiven Debatte über die Unternehmensbesteuerung, deren treibende Kraft der internationale Steuerwettbewerb ist. Sind die Unternehmenssteuern in Deutschland tatsächlich zu hoch? Wie sollte eine Reform der Unternehmensbesteuerung ausgestaltet sein?