Uncertainties about the tax treatment of business transactions in the
tax return or tax balance sheet can cause significant accounting
challenges for current and deferred taxes in the financial statements.
Whereas the accounting treatment of tax risks or tax audit risks has
been regulated under US GAAP since 2006, a corresponding IFRS regulation
was only published in 2017 and is effective from the 2019 fiscal year.
The author takes this as an opportunity to analyze and critically assess
the differences between the US GAAP accounting regulation "FIN 48 -
Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes" and the IFRS accounting
regulation "IFRIC 23 - Uncertainty over Income Tax Treatments". Building
on the insights from her analysis, the author also examines the problem
areas arising from IFRIC 23 from the perspective of the German tax
authorities, German business practice and German advisory practice.