Maria Hilling

Project summary

The EU general anti-abuse rule in the context of legal culture

The so-called Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD) requires all EU Member States to implement a general anti-abuse rule (EU GAAR) by 31 December 2018. The aim is to establish a minimum level of protection against tax avoidance within the internal market. Achieving this objective depends directly on the general anti-abuse rule in the Directive being interpreted consistently across all Member States. Several factors may jeopardise such a uniform interpretation, particularly the interaction between general anti-abuse rules and national tax cultures. The central question addressed by this research project is: How might differences in tax cultures affect national interpretations of the implemented general anti-abuse rule? The study identifies differences in tax cultures in Denmark, Sweden and Italy.

 

The project is valuable in several respects, particularly because it provides a research-based understanding of the significance of regulatory techniques, scope for interpretation and differences in legal cultures in the harmonisation of income tax law.