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Conceptual Nature Of The Corporate Income Tax, Hugo Nurnberg

Accounting Historians Journal

This paper examines a long-standing controversy about the conceptual nature of the corporate income tax: whether it is an expense, a loss, a distribution of income, or some anomalous item. That controversy reflects in part different theories of the accounting entity. Despite several authoritative pronouncements stating or implying that the tax is an expense, and despite an extensive discussion in the academic and professional literature, the controversy has never been fully resolved. Additionally, the tax is not characterized as an expense in corporate financial reports. The FASB's conceptual framework does not resolve this controversy, nor does the impending joint FASB-IASB …