Tax planning as a profession
Final Report Abstract
The project examined the tax consulting industry in Germany and analyzed in particular the views and reactions of tax professionals in the legitimation crisis of tax structuring. The sociology of professions states that professions have a 'dual character': on the one hand, they contribute to the common good by aligning their actions with societal core values and, on the other hand, they rely on legal frameworks that restrict competition and enable compliance with professional standards. The status of a profession can be renegotiated sporadically. Increased public criticism of aggressive tax structuring can cast doubt on the contribution of tax professionals to the common good, thus calling into question the privileges of the profession. The project asked which tax consulting business models can be found in the context of the German tax consulting industry, how tax professionals deal with legal gray areas and legitimize tax structuring, and how they react to criticism. Tax professionals also represent established groups whose vested interests are at stake in processes of change. We first explored the topic through literature studies and 10 expert interviews, which formed a basis for qualitative problem-centered interviews with 35 tax professionals, namely from tax consulting and auditing firms, law firms, tax departments of companies, banks and a fund, the tax administration, a trade union, solo self-employed persons and professors with privatesector consulting activities. The interviewees were mainly based in Germany; some also worked in Austria and Liechtenstein. We analyzed and interpreted the interviews using the integrative basic procedure. In the profession, we found a wide range of business models and a rudimentarily diverse spectrum of positions that differed from the layman's understanding of certain issues. Depending on the field of business, the expectations of clients, the profile of the company and their own convictions, professionals decide which "tax risks" they take, or – to put it another way – whether they structure taxes more or less "aggressively". The interviewees perceive increased regulation and pressure for legitimacy, react for the most part with counter-criticism, relativize the concept of justice and point to the advantages of the positivist interpretation of the law. They do not have a unified position on the need for regulation and legitimize tax design in particular through liberalism and economic theories, elitist ideas and the competition between locations. The change in the regulation of tax legislation and professional practice is not adequate or does not go deep enough to consolidate a position of tax professionals based on a contribution to the common good. Radio Österreich 1, ORF. Gast in der Sendung „Punkt eins“ zum Thema „Oase, Paradiese und Offshore. Systematische Steuervermeidung und aggressive Steuerplanung“, 18.5.2021
Publications
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Accumulation and tax professionals. Accumulating Capital Today, 208-223. Routledge.
Ötsch, Silke
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Arbeit in der legalen Grauzone: Steuerprofessionelle in einer transformierenden Sinnkrise? Momentum Quarterly, 10(4), S. 237–260
Ötsch, Silke; Buchholz, Stephanie & Lochner, Fabian
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Pendulum or Progress? Tax Consultants in the Crisis of Legitimacy. American Behavioral Scientist, 68(14), 1832-1861.
Ötsch, Silke
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Steuergestaltung als Profession. Professionelle in der Legitimitätskrise der Steuergestaltung. SOFI-Impulspapier, Dezember
Ötsch, Silke
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Zwischen Problemlösungskompetenz und Expertenpopulismus. Positionen von Steuerberater:innen zu Regulierung und Steuerpolitik in Deutschland SOFI Working Paper 2022–26.
Ötsch, Silke
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Tra competenza problem-solving e populismo esperto. Le posizioni dei consulenti fiscali tedeschi sulla politica fiscale.«, in Economisti e Societa’. Nuove sociologie dell expertise economica, hrsg. v. Nicoletta, Gerardo; Ventrone, Oreste; Scotto di Carlo, Michele. Napoli: Liguori Editore. (Sammelband)
Ötsch, Silke
