European standard-setters are reviewing how corporate income tax should be reflected in financial statements, write Mario Abela, Kirsten Davids and Nadja Jehle.

As long as businesses have been making profits, governments around the world have been finding ways to get their share. In fact, in a recent study by PricewaterhouseCoopers only eight of the 181 countries surveyed did not have some form of corporate income tax. But this is only about half of the picture – it is estimated that in Britain for every £1 of corporate income tax a company pays, an equivalent of £1 is paid in other taxes.