Book-Tax Conformity: The Review of Recent Research and Its Implication for the IFRS Adoption in Europe
eJournal of Tax Research, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 96-118, 2016
20 Pages Posted: 8 Sep 2016
Date Written: July 1, 2016
Abstract
As the goal of corporate taxation contradicts substantially the accounting principles of true and fair view, distinct measures of income are used in corporate and tax accounting. This dichotomy may facilitate an opportunistic behaviour of executives to manage earnings upwards in financial reporting and taxable profits downwards simultaneously. Aligning both measures may restrict the misbehaviour of management, however at cost of losing informativeness of accounting information. The deliberations on the level of book-tax conformity are complicated by international capital mobility, which facilitate the crossborder profit shifting. Finally, the worldwide adoption of IFRS challenges the governments to decide, whether to allow IFRS to be a tax base for corporate taxation. The growing number of opportunities to relocate profits to more favourable jurisdiction constitutes risks, but also opportunities, for governments struggling to retain control over taxation. The decision may influence both the regulatory frameworks and the business practices of companies. The paper analyses the advantages and disadvantages of low/high book-tax conformity. Our analysis rests on the review of respective literature and it is complemented by the classification of real corporate and tax accounting systems of the EU countries after the IFRS adoption. The classification can be employed in research studies, when the control for different aspect of “de jure book-tax conformity” is needed.
Keywords: Book-Tax Conformity, IFRS Adoption, Accounting Choices, Tax Avoidance, Reporting Incentives
JEL Classification: M41, H25
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation