Specialist Information

Business taxation examines the problems that arise for companies as a result of the existence of taxes. In particular, decision-makers should be enabled to assess operational issues from a tax perspective, make decisions taking into account the resulting tax implications, and develop alternative courses of action to achieve the set goals while avoiding negative tax effects. A sound knowledge of the fundamentals of tax law is a necessary prerequisite for this.

The Corporate Taxation (Business Administration IV) course teaches the basic structures of national and international German income tax law and highlights differences in the taxation of sole proprietorships, partnerships (OHG, KG) and corporations (GmbH, AG). Building on this, tax burden comparisons are made and the advantages and disadvantages of the individual legal forms are pointed out. The course Tax Income Determination in National and International Companies deals with the determination of taxable income, in particular the preparation of tax balance sheets. It also covers international income allocation for foreign permanent establishments and subsidiary corporations. In the course DATEV Case Studies in Business Taxation, students learn the basics of using DATEV software. This involves generating postings, preparing financial statements and completing tax returns.

Seminars on business tax planning and impact analysis and on international tax planning are offered, in which current issues are addressed and dealt with in depth. These seminars are particularly recommended as preparation for the Bachelor's thesis.

The Corporate Taxation: Income Taxes course provides insight into the specifics of taxation for partnerships and corporations, as well as taxation for various corporate legal forms. The Company Acquisition and Transformation course deals with the tax consequences of transformation processes and company acquisitions. The seminar on current case law of the Federal Finance Court discusses recent rulings. The case study seminar on international corporate taxation uses case studies to teach about the taxation of inbound and outbound investments in the context of German income, corporation and trade tax. The course Corporate and Individual Tax Planning delves deeper into other topics in the field of tax planning. 

The above courses are supplemented by courses taught by experienced lecturers. The course on value added tax provides an overview of the area of transaction taxes (in particular value added tax and real estate transfer tax). The English-language course on international tax planning deals with the basic principles of international tax planning and also teaches the relevant English technical terminology. The Tax Accounting course deals in particular with the accounting and valuation of deferred taxes, which are becoming increasingly important in the course of the internationalisation of accounting systems, including the German Commercial Code (HGB). In addition, the effects of taxes in commercial balance sheets on other key figures, such as the group tax rate, are examined. The course Tax Case Studies on M&A supplements and deepens the content of the course Company Acquisitions and Transformations by examining important tax law issues from a practical perspective using case studies.

A seminar on business taxation is also offered. 

Business taxation is the subject of the Master's programme in Accounting, Taxation and Public Finance. Other components of the programme include public finance and internal and external corporate accounting.