within the european union IAS could influence tax accounting via the EU regarding the harmonization of the financial accounting rules and via initiatives of the european commission for the creation of a consolidated corporate tax base
there is no fundAMENTAL conflict between IAS and the goal of tax accounting
compared to existing national GAAP the advantages of IAS as a starting point for tax accounting derive from pragmatic considerations ,simplification and the chance to create a common EU tax base
if IAS serve as a starting point for tax accounting their adoption has to be restricted to those standards that are in accordance with the objectives of tax accounting
altogether tax accounting would have to be linked more closely to the company's cash flows which would de facto result (as the case is up to now) in the autonomy of tax accounting
at the same time,restrictions of the set off of tax losses would need to be abandoned
a transition to tax accounting on the basis of IAS in the european union as proposed here has only minor effects on the effective tax burdens of companies
compared to other countries
german companies however would tend to improve their international tax position
an exclusive harmonization of the tax accounting rules cannot alleviate the current EU wide difference in effective company tax burdens
for this purpose additional measures are necessary especially the convergence of the nominal tax rates on profits