Obwohl Steuern eine wichtige Rolle für Banken spielen, ist die empirische Evidenz, wie Körperschaftsteuern die Entscheidungsfindung bei Banken beeinflussen, immer noch sehr gering (Hanlon und Heitzman (2010), de Mooij und Nicodème (2014)). Um diese Forschungslücke zu schließen, trägt diese Dissertation dazu bei, die Beziehung zwischen Banken und ihren Steuerplanungsaktivitäten besser zu verstehen. Studie A beinhaltet einen Literaturüberblick, inwieweit Banken Steuern in ihre Entscheidungsfindung einbeziehen. Studie B vergleicht das Niveau der Steuervermeidung zwischen Banken und Nicht-Banken. Studie C analysiert die Investorreaktionen auf eine mögliche Einführung des Country-by-Country Reporting für Finanzinstitute in Europa.

Although taxes play a major role for banks, large-scale, empirical evidence on how corporate income taxes affect banks is still scarce (Hanlon and Heitzman (2010), de Mooij and Nicodème (2014)). To fill this gap, this thesis contributes to a better understanding of the relation between banks and tax planning outcomes. As the literature on banks and taxes substantially grew in recent years, the first study (study A) provides a structured review on how banks incorporate corporate income taxation into their decision-making process, spanning the last 20 years. The review therefore builds a basis for studies B and C. A key concern after the financial crisis is whether banks sufficiently compensate the government and the taxpayers for the received aid, e.g., in terms of tax revenues. As banks are usually excluded from tax avoidance studies, it is difficult to put the degree of banks tax avoidance into perspective to that of other industries. The second study therefore compares banks and non-banks level of tax avoidance (study B). A potential tool to circumvent tax avoidance is the increase in financial reporting transparency with the help of country-by-country reporting (CbCR). In this respect, study C assesses investor perceptions on a potential introduction of public CbCR in Europe for banks. It provides evidence on investors expectations on the costliness of CbCR.