Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2010

The Taxation of Multinational Enterprises in the European Union

Stefano Micossi, Paola Parascandolo

February 2010

Centre for European Policy Studies

Abstract

As a rule, multinational enterprises (MNEs) are taxed separately by the countries in which they operate on the basis of the income produced in each jurisdiction. While being in operation for several decades, the system has never worked satisfactorily. Integration is only serving to amplify these difficulties, since intra-firm transactions take on increasing importance in the operations of MNEs, and financial market integration is expanding the opportunities for tax-planning in profit allocation and the debt-financing of capital spending. In this new Policy Brief the authors set out possible approaches to designing an efficient trans-border corporate tax system for the European Union.