Den skatterättsliga gränsdragningen mellan ränta och utdelning : Klassificering på gränsen mellan skatterätten och redovisningsrätten

Sammanfattning: Den skatterättsliga gränsdragningen mellan ränta och utdelning – How to classify and drawa distinction between interest and dividend for tax purposesThe purpose of this thesis is to analyse the question of how to classify and distinguishbetween interest and dividend for tax purposes in the hand of the issuer of a hybridinstrument. The question originates in the borderland of tax and accounting law and theaim is further to study how tax and accounting law interact in this area.The question of how to classify and distinguish between interest and dividend for taxpurposes is of great importance for the issuing company of a hybrid instrument sinceinterest is deductible; whereas dividends are not. However, in Swedish tax law there areno definitions or rules specifying how to make the classification. The question is decidedby case law. Unfortunately, case law is not uniform and it is difficult to foresee the actualtax consequences.However, in accounting law, there are definitions of debt and equity based on theeconomic substance of the conditions of a financial instrument, and there are certainmethods for classification of hybrid instruments. It is important to recognize that tax andaccounting law in some respects have different aims and are designed to achieve differentgoals. At the same time, both tax and accounting law operate in the same economic reality.In this context, there seems to be a tension between the two different areas.This tension or relation between tax and accounting law could be used to facilitate theclassification and address the question of how to distinguish between interest and dividendfor tax purposes. A possible way to go is to design separate tax definitions based oneconomic substance and conceptions in accounting law.