Anti-avoidance Legislation of Mayor German Language Countries with Reference to the 2014 Corporate Income Tax Burden of the Thirty-Four OECD Member Countries: Germany, Switzerland and Austria Compared

Abstract

The mayor German language countries, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria exhibit continuously economic growth and stability. Germany is the engine of the European Community and it might be interested to organize a group of affiliated companies in a way where all speak German. In this article anti-avoidance legislation will be reviewed with reference to the tax differential to the thirty-four Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Member Countries. The pivotal question is, therefore, to what extent can internal tax planning with German language countries be optimized by inclusion of anti-avoidance legislation. This article outlines the primary corporate objective and key concepts of international tax planning with regard to anti-avoidance legislation and discusses the corporate income tax burden in the thirty-four OECD Member Countries analysing the tax differential as incentive in relation to transfer pricing, the reduction in ETR as the primary corporate objective and key concepts and the he importance of current and reliable information. After that anti-avoidance legislation in these mayor German language countries is presented and strategies of international tax planning with relation to these countries are developed. Afterwards this is evaluated from the OECD's perspective of Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). Finally the concluding remarks are presented.