The Dark Side of Tax Planning: Aggressive Tax Planning

Abstract

A significant portion of tax revenue losses is related to tax avoidance and tax evasion. Tax planning, which includes legal tax avoidance actions, is considered as tax expenditure, while unethical tax planning actions that misuse legal loopholes are considered aggressive tax planning. Aggressive tax planning is, in general, using of conflicts between different tax systems to by multinational companies to reduce their tax burden. However, globalization fueled by digitalization has made this phenomenon available to all digitalized companies. In the fight against aggressive tax planning, the measures taken at the OECD, European Union and individual country level are aimed at reducing the tax losses in this context. However, the continuing differences in the tax systems of the countries make the initiatives difficult. Therefore, the most important step in avoiding tax avoidance through aggressive tax planning is international cooperation and consensus. In this respect, the Study evaluated international cooperation efforts in this field.

Keywords

• tax planning
• aggressive tax planning
• tax avoidance
• digital economy
• BEPS
• European Union

Vergi Planlamasının Karanlık Yüzü: Agresif Vergi Planlaması

Öz

Vergi gelirlerinde yaşanan kayıpların önemli bir kısmı vergiden kaçınma ve vergi kaçırma eylemleri ile bağlantılıdır. Yasal vergiden kaçınma eylemlerini içeren vergi planlaması vergi harcaması olarak nitelendirilirken, yasal boşlukları kötüye kullanan ve etik olmayan vergi planlaması eylemleri ise agresif vergi planlaması olarak kabul görmektedir. Agresif vergi planlaması, genel olarak, çok uluslu şirketlerin kendi vergi yüklerini azaltmak için farklı vergi sistemleri arasındaki uyuşmazlıkları kullanmalarıdır. Ancak dijitalleşmenin körüklediği küreselleşme, bu olguyu dijitalleşen tüm şirketlerin kullanımına açmıştır. Agresif vergi planlaması ile mücadelede OECD, Avrupa Birliği ve bireysel olarak ülkeler düzeyinde alınan tedbirler bu kapsamdaki vergi kaybının azaltılmasına yöneliktir. Ancak, ülke vergi sistemlerinde devam eden farklılıklar çalışmaları zora sokmaktadır. Agresif vergi planlaması yoluyla vergiden kaçınmanın önlenmesinde en önemli adım uluslararası işbirliği ve uzlaşının sağlanmasıdır. Bu bakımdan Çalışma bu alanda gerçekleşen uluslararası işbirliği çalışmalarını değerlendirmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• vergi planlaması
• saldırgan vergi planlaması
• vergiden kaçınma
• dijital ekonomi
• BEPS
• Avrupa Birliği

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