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Collected Papers of the Faculty of Law of the University of Rijeka=Recueil des travaux de la Faculté de droit de l'Université de Rijeka=Raccolta di scritti della Facoltà di giurisprudenza dell'Università di Rijeka=Gesammelte Schriften der Rechtswissen, Vol. 39 No. 4 Posebni broj, 2018.

Preliminary communication

https://doi.org/10.30925/zpfsr.39.4.10

TAX-RELATED RISKS OF MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS IN CROATIA: DRAWING THE LINE BETWEEN LEGITIMATE BUSINESS RESTRUCTURING AND AGGRESSIVE TAX PLANNING

Nataša Žunić Kovačević orcid id orcid.org/0000-0001-6923-5658 ; University of Rijeka, Law Faculty, Rijeka, Croatia
Stjepan Gadžo ; University of Rijeka, Law Faculty, Rijeka, Croatia

Full text: english pdf 347 Kb

page 1731-1747

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Abstract

Mergers and acquisitions of Croatian target companies may involve significant tax risks for domestic and foreign acquirers. Over the recent years, Croatian tax authorities have started to vigorously assess the economic substance of the envisaged M&As, often denying the acquirer different tax benefits, thus making the entire restructuring costlier. In doing so, Croatian tax authorities rely on a myriad of domestic anti-tax avoidance rules according to which M&A operations may be characterised as abusive. Accordingly, this paper offers a descriptive and systematic account on how Croatian anti-tax avoidance legislation may hinder M&A activity. Thereby, our aim is primarily to explore, both from a substantive and procedural point of view, the imagined boundary between legitimate and abusive tax planning.

Keywords

mergers and acquisitions; tax planning; lawfully avoiding payment of taxes; tax neutrality; burden of proof; the general rule against tax evasion

Hrčak ID:

218343

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/218343

Publication date:

28.2.2019.

Article data in other languages: croatian german italian

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