Бухгалтерське Відображення Операцій З Об’Єднання Іноземних Підприємств У Чеській Республіці На Основі Чеських Стандартів Обліку // Accounting Interpretation Of Cross-Border Mergers In The Czech Republic Based On Czech Accounting Standards

The paper deals with cross-border mergers that may be performed either out of or into the Czech Republic. In particular, the paper focuses on the accounting and tax aspects of these transactions. Attention was also paid to the most important legal requirements imposed on merger projects and the valuation of net assets during cross-border mergers. The Directive 2005/56/EC of 26 October 2005 on cross-border mergers of limited liability companies brought in new possibilities of business transformations across the EU member states’ borders. The implementation of this Directive was embodied in the Business Transformations Act that came into legal force on 1 July 2008 in the Czech Republic. This new act initiated many discussions of academics and practitioners. These debates usually focus the accounting, tax or legal challenges that must be resolved before cross-border mergers can be realised in practice. This article aims at describing main accounting issues that include the decisive day determination and consequential obligations (i.e. final financial statements, opening balance sheet, valuation report, etc.). Particularly challenging is the coexistence of two or more accounting standards during cross-border mergers and the actual transfer of foreign accounting entries into the Czech accounting books or vice-versa. If required by the Business Transformations Act, the net assets of the merging company have to be valued at market values. Some cross-border mergers will inevitably lead to the creation of organisational components of the successor companies either in the Czech Republic or abroad. These entities may have special accounting and tax treatment and usually result in certain practical, but also theoretical problems. The paper sheds more light on these issues. Tax implications are of vital importance to the cross-border merger participants. The paper describes and clarifies income tax advantages that may be gained in cross-border mergers and which were implemented into the Czech Income Tax Act by virtue of the Directive No. 90/434/EEC of 23 July 1990 on the common system of taxation applicable to mergers, divisions, transfers of assets and exchanges of shares concerning companies of different member states. The aim of this regulation is to anchor tax neutral treatment of crossborder mergers within the EU. As it is pointed out in the paper, it may be rather difficult to meet stringent requirements that are conditional upon enjoyment of the neutral tax treatment (e.g. utilisation of tax losses incurred by merging foreign companies). У статті обговорюються об’єднання іноземних підприємств, які можуть здійснюватися за участі Чеської Республіки. Зокрема, у статті звернено увагу на облікові та податкові аспекти цих операцій. Також приділена увага до найважливіших вимог законодавства у проектах об’єднання та оцінки чистих активів протягом закордонного об’єднання. Стаття описує переваги податку на прибуток, які можуть бути отримані при закордонному злитті та які були внесені в чеський Акт про податок на прибуток на основі Директиви 90/434/ЄЕС від 23 липня 1990 р. про просту систему оподаткування, що застосовується при об’єднанні, поділі, передачі активів та обміні акцій (часток), що стосуються компаній різних країн-членів.