Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/97326 
Year of Publication: 
2014
Series/Report no.: 
arqus Discussion Paper No. 167
Publisher: 
Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre (arqus), Berlin
Abstract: 
Tax uncertainty often negatively affects investment. Advance tax rulings (ATRs) are commonly used to provide tax certainty. We analyze ATRs from the taxpayers' and tax authorities' perspectives. Investors request ATRs if the fee does not exceed a certain threshold. We integrate this finding into the tax authorities' decision whether to offer ATRs. We find that ATRs are usually only offered if tax authorities are capable of significantly reducing their tax audit costs or increasing the detection probability. Otherwise, ATRs may be beneficial only if the tax authorities restrict them to classes of investments or use investment-specific fees. These results provide new explanations for why ATRs are currently not as intensively requested by taxpayers as expected against the background of high tax uncertainty. Moreover, the findings help to improve the design of ATRs.
Subjects: 
Advance Tax Rulings
Fee Design
Investment Effects
Tax Risk
Tax Uncertainty
JEL: 
H21
H25
M41
M42
M48
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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