FIE441 Taxes and Business Strategy

• Topics

  The course outlines the international tax environment and analyzes how it affects tax and financial reporting as well as income shifting by multinationals. The syllabus of the course is:

  • Introduction to corporate tax environment 
  • Principles of corporate taxation
  • Principle of international taxation
  • Taxes and innovation
  • Multinationals and profit shifting
  • Anti-tax avoidance rules
  • Tax transparency initiatives
  • Tax and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)

• Learning outcome

  Knowledge

  Upon successful completion of the course the student

  • Knows the basic of corporate taxation and international tax.
  • Understands how taxes affect corporate decisions (e.g. financing, transfer pricing, foreign holding company, innovation).
  • Knows the current global anti-tax avoidance measures for countering aggressive tax planning.
  • Has a basic understanding of how taxes relate to ESG.

  Skills

  Upon successful completion of the course the student

  • Has acquired an analytical tool set that allows for formally structuring and solving tax-planning problems.
  • Is able to independently analyze and evaluate the implications of future changes in regulation and the institutional setting.
  • Can apply her/his knowledge on international taxation and how it affects corporate decisions in a meaningful way.

  General competence

  Upon successful completion of the course the student

  • Has advanced expertise on international taxation.
  • Can communicate with specialists in both academia and practice about complex issues in existing tax systems around the world and how tax rules affect corporate decision.

• Teaching

  Teaching will consist of lectures as well as guest lectures.

• Restricted access

  The course has a maximum capacity of 100 students.

• Recommended prerequisites

  Some prior basic knowledge in finance and accounting is helpful.

• Credit reduction due to overlap

  None.

• Compulsory Activity

  None.

• Assessment

  Project in groups of 2-5 students. The project can also be submitted individually. The project is organized in collaboration with PwC and Equinor, and is divided into two parts that will be graded separately:

  • Written report (50%).
  • Presentation via a self-recorded video (50%).

  The aim of the project is to apply the theory learned in class to a real business case, involving a tax related issue faced by a multinational company.

  The students will be working on both the written report and the presentation between February and March.

  Both elements have to be taken in the same semester.

• Grading Scale

  A-F.

• Literature

  Collection of articles and readings, mainly provided on Canvas

  • The impact of globalization on tax structures in OECD Countries. By Peter Egger, Sergey Niagai and Nora Stecker (2016). VOX/CEPR article  https://voxeu.org/article/too-much-globalisation-can-be-taxinghttps://voxeu.org/article/too-much-globalisation-can-be-taxing
  • Company taxation and tax spillovers: Separate accounting versus formula apportionment by Nielsen, S.B, Raimondos-Møller, P., and G. Schjelderup (2010). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001429210900066Xhttps://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001429210900066X
  • Heckemeyer J.H. and M. Overesch, 2017. Multinationals’ profit response to tax differentials: Effect size and shifting channels. Canadian Journal of Economics 50, 965-994 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/caje.12283https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/caje.12283
  • Gabrielsen, T., and G. Schjelderup, 1999. Transfer pricing and ownership structure. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 101(4), 673-688.
  • Buettner T., M. Overesch, U. Schreiber and G. Wamser, 2012. The impact of thin-capitalization rules on the capital structure of multinational firms. Journal of Public Economics 96, 930-938.
  • Clifford S., 2019. Taxing multinationals beyond borders: Financial and locational responses to CFC rules. Journal of Public Economics 173, 44-71.
  • Joshi, P. (2020). Does Private Country‐by‐Country Reporting Deter Tax Avoidance and Income Shifting? Evidence from BEPS Action Item 13. Journal of Accounting Research, 58(2), 333-381
  • Graham JR, Hanlon M, Shevlin T, and Shroff N. 2014. Incentives for tax planning and avoidance: Evidence from the field. The Accounting Review 98(3):991-1023
  • Schwab T., Todtenhaupt, M. (2021) Thinking outside the box: The cross-border effect of tax cuts on R&D. Journal of Public Economics 204, 104536.