Substância 

: a espada de Dâmocles do legislador : o requisito da substância económica & o conceito da personalidade tributária passiva no IRC

Abstract

We witness a resurgence of the economic substance doctrine, as a normative legal principle, which proclaims a genuine economic purpose for economic transactions. We understand that the subjective scope of application of legal personality in private law diverges from its application in the tax field. In turn, the doctrine understands the taxable person as a person holding a passive legal-tax situation. We need to equate whether the attribution of passive tax personality may depend, in part, on a materialization of sufficient economic substance, in order to respond to artificial tax constructions by the taxpayer. In Portugal, there is no definition of what is understood as sufficient economic substance. The historical element and the jurisprudence of Danish Cases are necessary to clarify this principle. In this context, the European Commission has proposed the adoption of the Unshell Proposal, with the aim of preventing access to tax benefits of purely artificial constructions. This study examines these different prisms of the subject, with the aim of assessing the recommended direction of tax policy on this issue.

Date of Award	2 Feb 2024
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Miguel Correia (Supervisor)