Accounting and taxation in Europe — A comparative overview

Abstract

This overview article describes the relationship between accounting and taxation in those thirteen European countries that are included in this volume. A basic distinction is made between the six countries where accounting and taxation are dependent and the seven countries where they are independent. Even within these two groups distinctions can be made on the basis of the different influences of taxation on individual and group accounts, the development from a dependence to an independence structure, and the existence and contents of regulation on deferred taxation. The current lack of harmonisation is surprising. Only two countries, the Netherlands and Norway, are very similar to IASC E49. It is, however, expected that E49 (more precisely, the IAS that will result from it) will be an important basis for harmonising the group accounts in all thirteen countries.