The Accrual Accounting Principle and its Implications for Portuguese Tax Courts Decisions

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper focusing on the interpretations issued by different Portuguese courts concerning the application of the accrual principle established in the Corporate Income Tax Code. This paper uses a database of the Portuguese tax courts’ decisions and employs a case law-based research methodology to address the following question: under which circumstances the principle of justice may affect the strict application of the accrual principle? After collecting twenty-four legal decisions related to the application of the accrual principle outlined in tax law, this paper summarises eleven, grouping them according to the different issues under dispute. This analysis also includes the confrontation of the assumptions used by the tax authority and the claims of the taxpayers, identifying and discussing the legal arguments to override the strict application of the accrual principle. The main conclusion is that Portuguese courts may summon the principle of justice in taxation when taxpayers violate the accrual principle, in order to prevent unfair corrections to taxable income performed in tax audits. This paper found that the tax authority typically demands a rigid use of the accrual principle while the taxpayers often argue for a more flexible application. This last perspective has been adopted by the tax courts in certain circumstances, in particular when taxable income transfer was not motivated by tax avoidance.