MW49 - Business Taxation

The Master's program on Business Taxation is designed to deepen the ability to methodically determine and quantify the tax consequences of economic circumstances, to recognize risks and to develop suitable alternatives for achieving business goals while avoiding negative tax effects. In addition, the students' judgement should be trained in such a way that they are able to critically assess the tax law norms relevant to the field of corporate taxation from a business and legal perspective.

An indispensable prerequisite for the Master's program is a precise knowledge of the tax law fundamentals of corporate taxation including its methodical application as well as a command of basic knowledge of the taxation of medium-sized companies, of group companies and of international corporate taxation.

The module MW49: Business Taxation is designed as a two-semester module and can be started in any semester (except the last semester). The module final exam is offered in each semester.

The following sample curriculum is recommended for the elective module MW49: Business Taxation:

The elective module MW49: Business Taxation requires the attendance of the following compulsory courses:

• Course 1: Repetitorium of Corporate Taxation (2 SWS)
• Course 2: International Corporate Taxation (2 SWS)
• Course 3: Taxation of group companies (2 SWS)

As well as a course of the student's choice from the following offer:

• Course 4: Seminar on business taxation (2 SWS)
• Course 5: Selected problems of tax profit determination (2 SWS)

In addition, each semester a voluntary exam case exercise is offered in which exam cases from previous semesters are solved together.

A general prerequisite for attending module MW49 is the existence of basic knowledge of income tax law and the law on transactions and tax on assets as well as the methodical application of this basic knowledge to business issues, including the ability to solve concrete tax cases systematically, completely and accurately.

Special participation requirements are recommended for the following courses:

Course 4: Previous attendance of course 2 or 3.

The prerequisite for the award of ECTS points is the successful participation in the written module final examination or, for additional services, the preparation of a paper and presentation of the same.

Course 1: Repetitorium of Corporate Taxation

The goal of the revision course is to refresh the knowledge of the tax law basics in the most important areas of corporate taxation in the sense of a Master Alignment and to close knowledge gaps. The fundamentals of corporate taxation and the ability to solve tax law cases systematically, completely and accurately are actively trained in numerous case studies and exercises.

Please note that the Repetitorium is not a sufficient substitute for (almost) completely missing knowledge of corporate taxation.

Course 2: International Corporate Taxation

The aim of the course is to examine the tax consequences resulting from the internationalization of companies' business activities. Methods and measures to avoid double taxation and under-taxation will be discussed. The national German foreign tax law, the OECD Model Convention and EU law will be discussed. Then the taxation of foreign business activities of persons resident in Germany ("outbound" investments) and the reverse case of the activities of non-residents in Germany ("inbound" investments) will be analyzed. In addition, important areas of international tax planning are elaborated.

Course 3: Taxation of group companies

The aim of the course is to analyze specific tax effects in corporate groups - understood as a plurality of legally independent companies under uniform economic management - and to show possibilities for structuring them. In particular, tax issues relating to the organizational structure of groups of companies, the trade in goods and services, financing and loss utilization, restructuring and the acquisition of companies are dealt with.

Course 4: Seminar on business taxation

The aim of the seminar on business taxation is to discuss current developments and problems in the field of corporate taxation on the latest state of research. Presentations by the students introduce the respective topics, which are then deepened in the discussion.

Tax knowledge from at least one of the compulsory courses is required.

Course 5: Selected questions of tax profit determination

The aim of the course is to analyze current and practice-relevant problems in the field of tax profit determination and to discuss them on the latest state of knowledge. Students should be enabled to critically and carefully consider and participate in the solution of currently discussed professional problems of tax profit determination by applying scientific methods.

The module is concluded with a 3-hour written exam. The exam consists of an essay part and a case part, both of which are equally weighted and both of which must be worked on. 

In the essay part it has to be shown that the students are able to present and critically discuss the tax consequences with regard to a certain operational decision problem systematically and correctly; four topics are presented, three of which are to be worked on.

In the case section, students should demonstrate their ability to solve complex tax cases systematically, completely and accurately. The case section contains 3 concrete tax cases, of which as many as possible should be solved completely and accurately. To pass the case section, students must achieve a minimum number of points and at least 75% of the cases must be solved completely and accurately.

Tax laws and tax guidelines are allowed as aids in the exam, as long as they do not contain any entries.

In our ILIAS e-learning area you can find old exams and examination notes for the module MW49.

The current module description in German can be found here.