IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ces/ceswps/_11018.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Design and Consequences of CFC and GILTI Rules: A Review and Potential Lessons for the Global Minimum Tax

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Overesch
  • Dirk Schindler
  • Georg Wamser

Abstract

This chapter provides a description of one of the key anti-tax-avoidance rules to combat profit shifting by multinational corporations, so called Controlled Foreign Corporation (CFC) rules that directly target income in low-tax countries. We explain some key institutional features of CFC provisions. We then present some data and descriptive statistics before we review existing theoretical and empirical research analyzing CFC rules. Our review also includes the new U.S. GILTI rules. CFC rules are effective in curbing profit shifting, but their effect on the real economy is still unclear. In contrast, GILTI seems to be ineffective when it comes to profit shifting, but it has consequences for real activity. We finally argue that research on CFC regulations and GILTI can be informative in assessing the recent global minimum tax initiative.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Overesch & Dirk Schindler & Georg Wamser, 2024. "Design and Consequences of CFC and GILTI Rules: A Review and Potential Lessons for the Global Minimum Tax," CESifo Working Paper Series 11018, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11018
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/cesifo1_wp11018.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janeba, Eckhard & Smart, Michael, 2003. "Is Targeted Tax Competition Less Harmful Than Its Remedies?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 10(3), pages 259-280, May.
    2. Steffen Juranek & Dirk Schindler & Guttorm Schjelderup, 2018. "Transfer pricing regulation and taxation of royalty payments," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 20(1), pages 67-84, February.
    3. Haufler, Andreas & Runkel, Marco, 2012. "Firms' financial choices and thin capitalization rules under corporate tax competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1087-1103.
    4. Voget, Johannes, 2011. "Relocation of headquarters and international taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1067-1081, October.
    5. Voget, Johannes, 2011. "Relocation of headquarters and international taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1067-1081.
    6. Nora Alice Paulus, 2022. "The anti‐tax‐avoidance directive: An initiative to successfully curb profit shifting?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(3), pages 529-546, June.
    7. Martin Ruf & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2012. "The taxation of passive foreign investment: lessons from German experience," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(4), pages 1504-1528, November.
    8. John Mutti & Harry Grubert, 2009. "The Effect of Taxes on Royalties and the Migration of Intangible Assets Abroad," NBER Chapters, in: International Trade in Services and Intangibles in the Era of Globalization, pages 111-137, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Alfons Weichenrieder, 1996. "Anti-tax-avoidance provisions and the size of foreign direct investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 3(1), pages 67-81, January.
    10. Kimberly A. Clausing, 2020. "Profit Shifting before and after the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 73(4), pages 1233-1266, December.
    11. Keen, Michael, 2001. "Preferential Regimes Can Make Tax Competition Less Harmful," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(4), pages 757-762, December.
    12. Egger, Peter H. & Wamser, Georg, 2015. "The impact of controlled foreign company legislation on real investments abroad. A multi-dimensional regression discontinuity design," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 77-91.
    13. S. Juranek & D. Schindler & A. Schneider, 2023. "Royalty taxation under tax competition and profit shifting," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1377-1412, November.
    14. Rainer Bräutigam & Christoph Spengel & Frank Streif, 2017. "Decline of Controlled Foreign Company Rules and Rise of Intellectual Property Boxes: How the European Court of Justice Affects Tax Competition and Economic Distortions in Europe," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 38, pages 719-745, December.
    15. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2018. "The Consequences of the Tax Cut and Jobs Act's International Provisions: Lessons from Existing Research," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 71(4), pages 707-728, December.
    16. Clifford, Sarah, 2019. "Taxing multinationals beyond borders: Financial and locational responses to CFC rules," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 44-71.
    17. Guttorm Schjelderup & Frank Stähler, 2023. "The Economics of the Global Minimum Tax," CESifo Working Paper Series 10319, CESifo.
    18. Javier Garcia-Bernardo & Petr Janský & Gabriel Zucman, 2022. "Did the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Reduce Profit Shifting by US Multinational Companies?," NBER Working Papers 30086, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Sabine Schenkelberg, 2020. "The Cadbury Schweppes judgment and its implications on profit shifting activities within Europe," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 1-31, February.
    20. Keen, Michael, 2001. "Preferential Regimes Can Make Tax Competition Less Harmful," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 54(n. 4), pages 757-62, December.
    21. Ulrich Schreiber, 2013. "International Company Taxation," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, Springer, edition 127, number 978-3-642-36306-1, August.
    22. Haufler, Andreas & Mardan, Mohammed & Schindler, Dirk, 2018. "Double tax discrimination to attract FDI and fight profit shifting: The role of CFC rules," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 25-43.
    23. Michael Overesch & Leon G. A. Reichert & Georg Wamser, 2023. "The Effects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on the Tax-Competitiveness of Multinational Corporations," CESifo Working Paper Series 10310, CESifo.
    24. Ulrich Schreiber, 2013. "International Company Taxation," Springer Texts in Business and Economics, in: International Company Taxation, edition 127, chapter 1, pages 1-25, Springer.
    25. Mr. Shafik Hebous & Mr. Cory Hillier & Andualem Mengistu, 2024. "Deciphering the GloBE in a Low-Tax Jurisdiction," IMF Working Papers 2024/064, International Monetary Fund.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nora Alice Paulus, 2022. "The anti‐tax‐avoidance directive: An initiative to successfully curb profit shifting?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 24(3), pages 529-546, June.
    2. Sarah Clifford, 2017. "Taxing multinationals beyond borders: financial and locational responses to CFC rules," EPRU Working Paper Series 17-02, Economic Policy Research Unit (EPRU), University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics.
    3. Clifford, Sarah, 2019. "Taxing multinationals beyond borders: Financial and locational responses to CFC rules," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 44-71.
    4. Haufler, Andreas & Schindler, Dirk, 2023. "Attracting profit shifting or fostering innovation? On patent boxes and R&D subsidies," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    5. Sebastian Beer & Ruud de Mooij & Li Liu, 2020. "International Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Review Of The Channels, Magnitudes, And Blind Spots," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 660-688, July.
    6. Athiphat Muthitacharoen, 2023. "Location Choice And Tax Responsiveness Of Foreign Multinationals: Evidence From Asean Countries," The Singapore Economic Review (SER), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 68(01), pages 217-242, March.
    7. Axel Prettl & Dominik Hagen, 2023. "Multinational ownership patterns and anti-tax avoidance legislation," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 30(3), pages 565-634, June.
    8. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2020. "Do Multinational Firms Use Tax Havens to the Detriment of Other Countries?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8275, CESifo.
    9. von Hagen, Dominik & Harendt, Christoph, 2017. "Impact of controlled foreign corporation rules on post-acquisition investment and profit shifting in targets," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-062, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    10. Thiess Buettner & Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2018. "Anti profit-shifting rules and foreign direct investment," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 25(3), pages 553-580, June.
    11. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2023. "The Consequences of the 2017 US International Tax Reform: A Survey of the Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 10802, CESifo.
    12. von Hagen, Dominik & Pönnighaus, Fabian Nicolas, 2017. "International taxation and M&A prices," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-040, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Kari Seppo, 2015. "Corporate tax in an international environment – Problems and possible remedies," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2015(1), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Buettner, Thiess & Overesch, Michael & Schreiber, Ulrich & Wamser, Georg, 2012. "The impact of thin-capitalization rules on the capital structure of multinational firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(11), pages 930-938.
    15. Andreas Haufler & Mohammed Mardan & Dirk Schindler, 2016. "Optimal Policies against Profit Shifting: The Role of Controlled-Foreign-Company Rules," CESifo Working Paper Series 5850, CESifo.
    16. Andreas HAUFLER & KATO Hayato, 2024. "A Global Minimum Tax for Large Firms Only: Implications for Tax Competition," Discussion papers 24051, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    17. Haufler, Andreas & Mardan, Mohammed & Schindler, Dirk, 2018. "Double tax discrimination to attract FDI and fight profit shifting: The role of CFC rules," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 25-43.
    18. Haufler, Andreas & Runkel, Marco, 2012. "Firms' financial choices and thin capitalization rules under corporate tax competition," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1087-1103.
    19. Hernández-Murillo, Rubén, 2019. "Interjurisdictional competition with adverse selection," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 85-95.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Controlled-foreign-company (CFC) Rules; Global Intangible Low-taxed Income (GILTI); tax havens; tax avoidance; effects of regulation; global minimum tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_11018. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Klaus Wohlrabe (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cesifde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.