The common consolidated corporate tax base : implications of the CCTB for Malta

Abstract

Upon accession to the European Union, Member States were given the sole mandate of domestic direct taxation insofar as their policies do not contravene the objectives of the Union. It can be safely said that Member States’ sovereignty on this issue is well safeguarded by the general principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, making it extremely difficult for the Commission to ever arrive at a common solution that would be accepted by all the Member States. On the other hand, since the European Union’s inception in the 1950s, the Commission has made every effort to integrate the Member States’ corporate direct taxation systems. Its latest attempt is known as the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB).