Taxation Research Group

News and Events

Call for Papers - Ghent Conference on International Taxation

The Taxation Research Group at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration of Ghent University is proud to invite you to the second edition of the Ghent Conference on International Taxation, which will take place on 5 and 6 May 2025 in Ghent, Belgium.
The aim of this conference is to provide scholars working on international taxation research from a (business) economics point-of-view with the opportunity to share and discuss their recent work. Topics may include, but are not limited to: tax avoidance, reporting, compliance, transparency, harmonization, and managerial decisions.
Each presenter will receive individual comments on their research project from a discussant. Additionally, feedback will
be received from the attendees, keynote speakers, and organizers in a friendly atmosphere.

Keynote speakers

We are happy to announce that our two keynote speakers for this edition will be:

Prof. Dr. Caren Sureth-Sloane
Paderborn University and TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency

Prof. Dr. Niels Johannesen
Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation

Submission guidelines
Please submit your full paper or extended abstract (3 to 5 pages) to TaxationConference@UGent.be in Word or PDF format by Monday, 20 January 2025. Notifications of acceptance will be sent out in early March.

Conference registration
The registration fee of €150 will cover all catering and social
events during the conference. More details regarding
registration will follow soon.

For more information, please contact TaxationConference@UGent.be.

New publication: Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance: the moderating role of economic freedom

Previous studies on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and tax avoidance (TA) have found inconclusive results. Academics have suggested deepening our understanding of this relationship. Although a few studies have responded to this call, research toward moderating variables is still nascent. The purpose of this study is to analyze the moderating role of economic freedom (EF) and its interaction with power distance (PD) on the relationship between CSR and TA. Based on a sample of 3,866 publicly listed firms from 44 countries over the period 2010–2018, the authors use multivariate regressions techniques to investigate whether and how EF moderates the relationship between CRS and TA and how PD influences this effect. Findings indicate that the potentially positive relationship between CSR and TA is weaker for firms in institutional environments with higher EF. Moreover, we find that this moderating effect is stronger when PD is lower. This study has important implications. It offers insights for managers to reflect on their CSR and taxation practices, and for policymakers to consider the institutional conditions that facilitate corporations’ social and tax-responsible behavior. These findings indicate the necessity of integrating cultural, regulatory and collaborative elements to observe corporations engaged in social and tax responsible behavior.

Acosta Garcia, C., Verleyen, I., & Roggeman, A. (2024). Corporate social responsibility and tax avoidance: the moderating role of economic freedom. Society and Business Review. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/SBR-11-2023-0345

Internationalization @home: a visit from Georg-August Universität's students

On April 25 and 26, we hosted the second edition of the internationalization@home project for our students of the complementary study program in Business Economics – Taxation as part of their course on tax planning and strategy. Accompanied by prof. dr. Andreas Oestreicher and Matti Boie-Wegener, a group of nine motivated students from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany) embarked on a journey to Ghent. The aim of their endeavor was not (only) to discover the charm of Ghent’s medieval city center and to meet the local students, but predominantly to get immersed in the topical debate on fair taxation.

New publication: The impact of environmental taxation on innovation: Evidence from Canada

In recent years, many governments have implemented environmental regulations to combat climate change. In particular, carbon taxes have shown to be an important policy tool to reduce emissions. However, there is little clarity about what drives this relationship. Based on the Porter hypothesis, we find evidence of innovation as a mediator between carbon taxes and CO₂ emissions. Using Canadian province-level data from the period 1997–2015, we exploit the implementation of the 2008 British Columbian carbon tax to conduct a difference-in-differences analysis. Our results suggest a statistically and economically significant switch from product innovation to process innovation for British Columbia compared to other Canadian provinces not subject to the carbon tax. So, the stimulating impact of carbon taxes on process innovation appears to be an important explanation for the reduction of emissions.

I. Matterne, A. Roggeman, and I. Verleyen. (2024). The impact of environmental taxation on innovation: Evidence from Canada. Energy Policy, 187, (2024). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2024.114054

Vennootschapsbelasting toegepast 2024 (February 2024)

Auteur(s): Prof. dr. Em. Paul Beghin, Prof. dr. Annelies Roggeman, Prof. dr. Isabelle Verleyen

Vennootschapsbelasting toegepast benadert de materie van de vennootschapsbelasting gestructureerd en op een originele manier. De auteurs combineren het juridische uitgangspunt met interessante bedrijfseconomische inzichten. De band tussen het boekhoudrecht en het fiscaal recht wordt geïllustreerd met talloze voorbeelden en verwijzingen naar de rechtspraak.

Dit boek geeft een duidelijke schets van het toepassingsgebied van de vennootschapsbelasting, het bepalen van het belastbaar inkomen, aftrekbare en niet-aftrekbare beroepskosten. Voorts wordt uitgelegd hoe de belastbare grondslag wordt bepaald en hoe men de verschuldigde vennootschapsbelasting berekent. Tot slot wordt aandacht besteed aan de verrekening van voorheffingen en belastingkrediet, aan de verschillende tarieven en aan de bijzondere aanslagstelsels.

De combinatie van theorie en talrijke voorbeelden maakt dit handboek uitermate interessant als studieboek voor het hoger onderwijs en als referentiewerk voor praktijkmensen die geregeld in aanraking komen met de dagelijkse toepassing van de vennootschapsbelasting.

Residential seminar 2023

On November 16 and 17, we organized the thirteenth edition of the two-day Residential Seminar for our master students Business Administration – Taxation (Handelswetenschappen - Fiscaliteit). Armed with a suitcase full of tax knowledge, 53 students hit the road to Knokke at the Belgian coast. Building the bridge between education and practice was our mission.

Each of the six participating firms (CBFin, EY, KPMG Belgium, Titeca Pro Accountants & Experts, Vandelanotte, and Vialto Partners) supervised a team of 8 or 9 students working on a realistic business case. On the second day, the student teams presented their final result to a jury of Ghent University staff as well as experts from the field.

We look back on a successful edition for the students, the participating firms as well as for ourselves! On to next year!

2023 congress of the European Association of Tax Law Professors - Luxemburg

On june 9th and 10th, Dave Goyvaerts attended the 2023 congress of the European Association of Tax Law Professors in Luxemburg. This year, the congress focused on the Computation of Taxable Business Profits: Book-Tax Conformity and Other Issues. Dave participated in a panel session on the procedural aspects of book-tax conformity, chaired by Roman Seer (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), were he discussed ways to react to the abuse of accounting rules for tax purposes, using examples from the Belgian context.

The 45th Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association in Espoo, Finland (2023)

In May 2023, a four-person delegation of our research group (Annelies Roggeman, Catherine Acosta Garcia, Kenny Dekoster, and Erik Gjymshana) traveled to Espoo (Finland) for the 45th Annual Congress of the European Accounting Association.

In the same parallel session on Thursday morning, Catherine and Kenny presented their respective papers 'Public country-by-country reporting and corporate social responsibility: an analysis of European multinational banks' and 'Exploring the impact of tax education on CSR perceptions of corporate tax planning'. Both papers are a joint work with Prof. Dr. Isabelle Verleyen and Prof. Dr. Annelies Roggeman.

Erik took the floor in one of the research fora, presenting his paper on 'R&D tax credits, innovative activity, and the targeting approach', which is also a joint work with Prof. Dr. Annelies Roggeman and Prof. Dr. Isabelle Verleyen.

On top of that, Kenny also applied and got selected for the EAA doctoral colloquium, which was held in the days before the main congress. In a strong field of competitors, Kenny was nominated as one of the three EAA representatives for accounting congresses outside of Europe. In that capacity, Kenny will attend the 2024 CAA Craft of Accounting Research Workshop in June 2024, in Halifax (Canada). Congratulations!

Internationalization @home: a visit from Georg-August Universität's students

On May 4 and 5, we welcomed a group of motivated tax students from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Germany) in Ghent. Accompanied by Prof. Dr. Andreas Oestreicher and Matti Boie-Wegener, the aim of their endeavor was not (only) to discover the charm of Ghent's medieval city centre, but predominantly to take part in the Internationalization@Home project we embarked on in the complementary study program in Business Economics - Taxation. For this project, a teaching case on international taxation was developed in close collaboration with Deloitte Belgium.

On Thursday, the students were divided into mixed teams of both universities to work together on the case that was presented to them. Mimicking the real-life procedure of receiving client information and preparing for a first client meeting highlighting the attention points from a tax perspective, the deadline was tight: a PowerPoint presentation covering their advice to the client needed to be handed in at 5 PM sharp. For the remainder of the day, our students took the group of German students with them on a well-prepared boat trip on the Ghentian waters. Next to showing their German counterparts around in Ghent, this was the perfect opportunity for the students to grow their international network.

On Friday morning, we moved on with the group presentations of their solution to the case before ending the two-day event with a lunch in the Krookcafé.

We look back on a successful event for the students as well as for ourselves, and on a successful as well as pleasant collaboration with our colleagues from Göttingen (Prof. Dr. Andreas Oestreicher and Matti Boie-Wegener). It has definitely sparked our interest to continue working on similar projects in the near future.

The first edition of the Ghent Conference on International Taxation (27/03/2023-28/03/2023)

From the start, our Taxation Research Group at Ghent University immediately agreed upon the aim and scope of the conference: discussing the latest research trends and developments in the field of international taxation in a constructive and Ghentian atmosphere. After launching the call for papers, we were happy to receive so many submissions, hence resulting in an inspiring program with both paper and poster presentations as well as several informal networking opportunities. We are also grateful for the engagement of our two distinguished keynote speakers. Eva Eberhartinger shared her insights into how to develop an academic career (both during and after your PhD), whereas Michael Overesch provided an overview of opportunities for further research into firm responses to international taxation.

We are honoured to have had the privilege to welcome such a diverse group of academics from all around Europe. Our participants' expertise, valuable insights, engagement as well as their warm-heartedness made the first edition of this conference truly memorable. We hope that the conference provided a valuable platform for all participants and that they all enjoyed it as much as we did organizing it. Let's keep the ties close, and we hope to (re)welcome you in Ghent in the future!

Older News and Events

Research

Our research group mainly focuses on topics in corporate taxation at the national and international level, which can be related to other disciplines like accounting, finance, management or economics. We deal with the following broad areas:

• Tax incentives for business
• Measures against tax avoidance of multinationals
• Shareholder perceptions of tax avoidance
• Tax avoidance and corporate social responsibility
• Green taxation of companies

A common characteristic of our research is that the research topics have a grounding in real-world practice. Our research strategy is based on sound theoretical frameworks and advanced research methods.