Tax Incentives and Anti-Abuse Measures in the Digital Economy, Austria : Two Coins at the Same Time

In the last few years the use of complex tax planning structures by multinational companies has been the subject of increasing scrutiny by the media. The names of global players, such as Google, Apple and Amazon made frequent appearances in the headlines. When accusing these companies of not paying their fair share of taxes, it should be noted that with a few negligible exceptions, these multinationals comply with the domestic legislation of the countries involved. It seems that governments are following two aims that may even be contradictory from an international point of view: on the one hand states are using tax incentives to lure foreign companies and on the other hand they are interested in preventing domestic companies from making use of foreign tax incentives and from relocating or moving part of their businesses abroad. Due to their high mobility, digital companies are at the heart of this debate today. In this book these tax policies in the digital economy will be adressed as two sides of the same coin: tax incentives to attract foreign businesses and anti-avoidance measures to prevent the utilization of foreign tax incentives and a consequent business delocalisation.