Book Tax Conformity for Financial Instruments

Abstract

Since the introduction of the corporate income tax in the United States in 1909, both lawyers and accountants have discussed whether to allow corporate taxpayers to use income reported by corporations to their shareholders on their financial reports under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) as the basis for imposing corporate income tax. Similar discussions have taken place in other countries, particularly in Europe in recent years. As of today, several countries apply general book-tax conformity, while several others apply it only to financial instruments. In the United States, limited booktax conformity already exists, to some extent, in the tax law, under the clearreflection-of-income principle contained in section 446, and in other specific provisions. Commentators agree, however, that currently, a general book-tax conformity regime for corporate tax is not feasible. In addition, courts often discuss the different roles of tax and accounting rules, generally concluding that tax does not have to follow books in all cases.