Tax and corporate governance

The interaction of taxation and corporate governance is a classical topic and a sta- up theme at the same time. Much has been written in the past on the influence of the tax framework on the choice of legal form for businesses and the structuring of c- pany groups and their contractual obligations. But in recent years, many other features of this relationship between two different fields of law have emerged. First of all, tax authorities around the world have become aware of the potential influence of corporate governance rules on the tax strategy of an enterprise. “Tax in the Boa- room” is a keyword for a movement which tries to employ company law and se- rities law as a tool for governments to fight corporate tax avoidance. The concept of corporate social responsibility and its repercussions in the tax arena, the allocation of tax competences within a company, the requirement to disclose relevant tax inf- mation to investors or the necessity to establish a management system for tax risks have given rise to an emerging strand of literature both from an economic and a legal background. This situation has led the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Com- tition and Tax Law (Department of Accounting and Taxation) in Munich to organize a conference on this topic – jointly with the International Network for Tax Research and the International Fiscal Association (German Branch) – in December 2006.