Where academic knowledge meets tax practice
Professor Cotruț, born in 1979, graduated from Titu Maiorescu University in Bucharest in 2002 with a degree in law, specialising in commercial, civil, criminal and European law. She is currently pursuing her PhD at Timisoara West University, where her research focuses on the analysis of the tax implications of corporate directors engaged in cross-border activities.
Her professional career spans more than 15 years, and she is currently an international tax lawyer and managing partner of a consulting firm in Bucharest, where she focuses on the analysis of cross-border transactions, double tax treaties, and EU directives. Previously, she worked as a senior researcher at the IBFD (International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation) headquarters in Amsterdam, where she carried out analyses on the OECD BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) project and the EU anti-tax avoidance directives.
During her years at Deloitte Romania and other leading consulting firms, Professor Cotruț not only participated in the development of tax planning strategies, but also advised on the development of the Romanian tax code. Her experience includes the analysis of tax systems in both developed and developing countries, including Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Turkey.
From 2020, Ms. Cotruț will be an Associate Professor at the Academy of Economic Studies in Bucharest, where she lectures on EU tax law, international taxation and the Romanian tax system. She participates in international legal research activities with representatives of the OECD and the European Commission, among others.
Professor Cotruț has published extensively in both English and Romanian. Among her major works is the book Tax Incentives in the BEPS Era, which discusses tax incentives and international tax avoidance regulations. She has also published several studies on European Court of Justice (ECJ) rulings and EU tax law, as well as on the international aspects of the Romanian tax system.
Her first faculty lecture (Selected Freedoms - Practical Cases) was on the fundamental freedoms of the European Union, in particular the free movement of workers, the freedom to provide services, and the right of establishment. In the seminars, she used leading cases from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) as examples. For example, she discussed the famous case C-279/93 Schumacker, a Belgian resident working in Germany who had problems claiming personal tax allowances because he was not a German tax resident. The case was eventually referred to the European Court of Justice, highlighting the possibility of indirect discrimination between workers on the basis of tax residence and the extent to which this is compatible with the EU's fundamental principles of free movement. Another example was the case of Gerritse - C-234/01, a Dutch musician who was taxed in Germany and who also encountered difficulties with tax benefits for non-resident artists. Here, the ECJ analysed and ruled on indirect discrimination in the context of the freedom to provide services. Professor Cotruț emphasised the EU's commitment to non-discrimination through relevant articles of the EU Treaty (such as Articles 45 and 56) and ECJ rulings, stating that non-residents should receive similar tax benefits as residents if they are in a comparable position.
Her second presentation (EU and International Tax Aspects of Doing Business) focused on the international tax aspects of EU law, particularly in relation to international business activities. She began by presenting the double taxation treaties of Romania and Hungary, which are based on the OECD model. The presentation used hypothetical examples to illustrate the challenges of international taxation. Depending on what the client wants: to work locally, to work in another country, to settle there, to set up a company there, etc., different possible cases must be considered from a tax point of view. As tax law in the EU is not harmonised, even within the EU it is the conventions between the countries involved that determine how tax revenues are shared. For example, a Hungarian tax resident will have to account for withholding tax on his (investment) dividends from Romania - and vice versa. As taxes also differ significantly, tax planning is an important business consideration.
Professor Cotruț stressed that it is not enough to know only certain types of taxes or to deal with specific tax laws (such as corporate tax or personal income tax per se), as the international tax system, including withholding taxes and double taxation treaties, ultimately forces us to consider other aspects to optimise our clients' tax position. As a creative example, she cited the structure of large international companies such as Google and Amazon, which are not legally applicable in the EU anymore. It is worth seeing how much money is at stake in knowing the line between tax planning and tax avoidance, as these companies did not set up this now controversial system illegally.
Mădălina Dana Cotruț's career is a prime example of how academic knowledge can be successfully applied in practice - and vice versa. During her stay, several students approached Mădălina with questions inspired by her and, of course, the lively discussions about the world's issues continued during the student evenings over wine, beer, and Unicum.During the dinner with her teaching colleagues, it became clear how much Mădălina enjoyed her time with our students and that she is open to further joint work and research with the ELTE Faculty of Economics.