| Abstract [eng] |
The Legal Forms of a Tax Advantages in the Republic of Lithuania In this Master’s thesis legal forms of tax advantages in the Republic of Lithuania have been analysed and evaluated based on analysis of regulations of the Republic of Lithuania and other sources. To theoretically analyse the legal forms of tax advantages common tax elements typical for a tax have been introduced at the beginning of this work, among which one of the essential tax elements, i.e. tax advantages, has been thoroughly analysed. Evaluation of tax advantages in the context of principles of equality of taxpayers and universal obligation enshrined in the Law on Tax Administration, performed by the author of this work, confirms that the tax advantages in Lithuania essentially complies with these generally recognized taxation principles. A detailed legal formulation of a tax advantage has been presented in this work in order to clearly understand the essence of such a phenomenon as the tax advantage. So, not only the content of the tax advantages (exceptional taxation conditions) but also forms of the advantages (exceptional taxation conditions) have been reflected in the term of the tax advantage formulated by the author. The tax advantage as a structural tax element may be defined as an exception to the general tax rule, where a law on the corresponding tax establishes the exceptional taxation conditions for a taxpayer of a group of taxpayers which are more favourable as compared to usual conditions and grant a right to a taxpayer not to pay a tax at all or pay less tax. The author also reveals economic and social objectives of the tax advantages in order to evaluate what is to be ensured by each of these objectives, how their implementation occurs and how economic and social benefit is obtained (given). After analysing legalliterature and summarizing diversity of the tax advantages legalized in the regulations of the Republic of Lithuania the following legal forms of the tax advantages have been distinguished: tax exemption, tax base reduction, reduction of a payable tax amount, and lower tax rate. During analysis of the legal forms of the tax advantages the author provides case studies which demonstrate diversity of the forms of the tax advantages applied in tax regulations of Lithuania. As a base for further analysis and evaluation of the legal forms of the tax advantages relevant tax laws have been chosen in the work with the tax advantages legalized in them in order to find out whether the tax advantages are reasonable and reach economic and social objectives set to them. Based on the research performed by the author of the work she draws a conclusion that most tax advantages applied in Lithuania are socially significant, economically reasonable and appropriate in their essence. However, there are tax advantages that fail to reach objectives set to them and are not efficient and socially correct. |
