Comparing the General Anti-Avoidance Rule of Income Tax Law with the Civil Law Doctrine of Abuse of Law (Part I)

Abstract

This paper compares the general anti-avoidance rule of income
tax law with the Civil Law doctrine of abuse of law (Rechtsmissbrauch, abus
de droit) in eight jurisdictions: Germany, Croatia, New Zealand, Australia, France, the e uropean u nion, the u nited s tates and the United Kingdom. The paper addresses the statutory and judge-made general anti-avoidance rules in these jurisdictions and deals with the core concept of avoidance an on how these eight jurisdictions either frustrate avoidance or allow it.