<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<p>A tax litigation concerning the value of non-traded financial instruments is impregnated by uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to study how uncertainty inherent in financial valuation models is discursively and rhetorically handled and constructed by the litigating parties as well as the court. A discourse analysis guided by the notion of hedging is conducted on <italic>The Swedish Tax Agency v. PwC</italic> (2013, 2014). The analysis demonstrates a sparse use of hedging. Rather, certainty characterizes tax litigation. However, the analysis shows that the litigating parties as well as the court participates in the construction of claims as facts, distancing themselves from their own claims and decisions.</p>
</abstract>

A tax litigation concerning the value of non-traded financial instruments is impregnated by uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to study how uncertainty inherent in financial valuation models is discursively and rhetorically handled and constructed by the litigating parties as well as the court. A discourse analysis guided by the notion of hedging is conducted on The Swedish Tax Agency v. PwC (2013, 2014). The analysis demonstrates a sparse use of hedging. Rather, certainty characterizes tax litigation. However, the analysis shows that the litigating parties as well as the court participates in the construction of claims as facts, distancing themselves from their own claims and decisions.

The Rhetorical Handling and Construction of Uncertainty in Tax Litigation Concerning Valuation of Financial Instruments

Knut Wicksell Centre for Financial Studies, School of Economics and Management

Nordic Tax Journal

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

A tax litigation concerning the value of non-traded financial instruments is impregnated by uncertainty. The aim of this paper is to study how uncertainty...

The Rhetorical Handling and Construction of Uncertainty in Tax Litigation Concerning Valuation of Financial Instruments

Article Category: Article

Published Online: Sep 18, 2021

Page range: 27 - 44

Received: Aug 04, 2020

Accepted: Apr 12, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ntaxj-2021-0001

Keywords
Tax litigation, Financial instruments, Rhetoric, Uncertainty, Discourse analysis, Hedging

© 2021 Niklas Sandell, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Rhetorical Handling and Construction of Uncertainty in Tax Litigation Concerning Valuation of Financial Instruments

Article Category: Article

Published Online: Sep 18, 2021

Page range: 27 - 44

Received: Aug 04, 2020

Accepted: Apr 12, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ntaxj-2021-0001

KeywordsTax litigation, Financial instruments, Rhetoric, Uncertainty, Discourse analysis, Hedging

© 2021 Niklas Sandell, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
Tax litigation, Financial instruments, Rhetoric, Uncertainty, Discourse analysis, Hedging