Comparative law study into the possibility of a more uniform tax treatment regarding business income of sole proprietorships and companies

The current doctoral research is entitled "Comparative law study into the possibility of a more uniform tax treatment regarding business income of sole proprietorships and companies”. The research is aimed at formulating an answer to the question which  tax law options are available to achieve a more neutral taxation of profits between different legal forms of business activities.

The research is based on the principle of neutrality as a  principle of a proper tax system. This principle implies  that if there are comparable economic options  for certain transactions or economic structures, the tax burden on these alternative choices should  be comparable. Neutrality of legal form  is part of this neutrality. Neutrality of legal form requires that business  profits should ideally be taxed equally, regardless of whether the business is conducted through the legal form of a company or not. European law has already indicated in the past that the current structure of personal and corporate tax rates is a source of distortion of competition between businesses according to their legal form. The research therefore examines, among other things, which rules in current Belgian tax law show a lack of  neutrality of legal form and to what extent this leads to distortions. . In addition, legal historical research is used to examine  whether lessons can be learned from the past regarding neutrality of legal form. Furthermore, a functional comparative law study  with Denmark, France and the Netherlands will be used to determine  which tax rules have already been implemented or will be implemented in these countries  in order to achieve  a more legal form-neutral taxation  of business profits.

Finally, a proposal is formulated of what a legal form-neutral taxation of business profits could look like in Belgium, taking into account also the sixth state reform and the amended Special Financing Act.