FB450 – Corporate Law and Taxation
Master of Science in Financial Law and International Taxation
Core Course
FB450 – Corporate Law and Taxation
Course Unit Code: FB450
Type Of Unit: Core
Level of Course Unit: Second cycle
Year of Study: First/second year
Semester: On demand
Number of ECTS Credits: 6
Class Contact Hours: 28
Mode of Delivery
Face to Face
Prerequisites
None
Course Objectives
Students of financial services need to get acquainted with legal aspects of corporate taxation. Tax planning and Tax management is employed as one of the potent tools for legitimately reducing tax incidence. Effects of taxation are so widespread and complicated in a changing business environment, rendering management decisions to be based on false premises if the tax aspect is ignored. Where ever finance is or money matters are involved the management gets very cautious. The Government, on the other hand, is providing various tax benefits and incentives and companies endeavor to take advantages thereof. It is being increasingly felt that tax management is not merely a legal exercise attempted in social vacuum but, instead, a method of integrating all areas of business management, since, almost every financial decision taken by a company entails tax implications. At the same time, corporate bodies should take extra cautions to organize their tax management in a way which may not be interpreted as tax evasion or money laundering.
Learning Outcomes
- To familiarize the students with Tax governance in Cyprus.
- To acquaint themselves with a detailed and specific guide to all facets of entrepreneurship in Cyprus, especially when the country is used as an international financial centre, as a place for direct investment, as a stepping stone in Tax planning and Tax management.
- To help students gain profound insights into who tax governance of business reflects an overall planning of the organization. All the important areas of tax planning, connected with the foresight of tax management included in the various study lessons, call for analytical application by the students and require thorough knowledge of international tax regime.
- To understand how individuals or firms facing tax problems, can, by appropriate use and application of perfectly legal methods and of double tax treaties, achieve an exemption from, a reduction in or a deferral of tax liability and hence an avoidance of tax.
- To gain an easy-to-read exposition of the international tax environment. The major difficulty of achieving this objective is the fact that the international tax environment is made complex by the coexistence of many different tax systems, reflecting the economic policies of different nations and the constant evolution of tax laws found in yearly changes in tax statutes and legal decisions.
- To understand how the generalities of international taxation presented in this course is structured so as to take the reader from the basic principles of international taxation through to the major problem areas of international tax planning. The general principles are stated, and the problems are illustrated by commonplace examples of the problems that arise.
- To help students attempt and examine the problems arising from the taxation of international business by means of elaborating upon the subjects dealt with, with the intention of explaining how such problems arise and indicating broad guidelines that may help in dealing with these problems.
Course Content
Course Features
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
Lectures, in-class discussions and debates; in-class exercises; team work; exercises which demonstrate the usage of statistical tools available in Microsoft Excel; problem sets; presentations.
Assessment methods and criteria
10% Class participation
15% Group assignment
75 % Final exam (24hr take-home exam)
Language of Instruction
English
Work Placement(s)
Not applicable
Readings
Recommended or required reading
Textbooks:
1. Materials on international, TP & EU tax law van Raad Kees (2014)
2. Cyprus Taxation: A comprehensive Guide And the other book!!!!
English (UK) 
Ελληνικά