As European Union Law now stands, Member States are free in designing their national direct tax systems, subject to the European Fundamental Freedoms and the existing community measures on direct taxes. As a result of the enlargement of the EU, this may therefore give rise to 27 different domestic corporate income tax regimes in the Member States. It is obvious that this variety of different tax systems increases complexity and compliance costs for businesses that operate cross-border in the European internal market.

The European Commission is considering a fundamental change to the tax system for companies with taxable operations in the European Union. The new system is referred to as the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB). The CCCTB is a single set of rules that companies operating within the EU could use to calculate their taxable profits. In other words, a company or group of companies would have to comply with just one EU system for computing its taxable income, rather than different rules in each Member State in which they operate. In addition, under the CCCTB, companies being active in more than one EU Member State would only have to file a single tax return for the whole of their activity in the EU.

Conferences on the issues of CCCTB:

• CCCTB and Third Countries, Vienna (2012)

• Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base, Vienna (2008)