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Information on bachelor and master theses

Prerequisites for writing a bachelor or master thesis

  • You successfully attended at least one taxation class during advanced studies (Profilierungsphase) in bachelor or in master at the chair of Prof. Elschner or Prof. Kudert.
  • We recommend bachelor students to attend a tax-related seminar prior to writing a thesis at our chair.

Application

If you decide to write the thesis at our chair, you first need to hand in the application for supervision of the thesis to the examination board. Please check for details on the application procedere on the website of the examination board.

The application deadline in the summer semester is March 15th, for the winter semester September 15th.

If we accept your application, you will get a confirmation E-Mail.

Writing process

Please find the corresponding dates for the information session and the deadlines for the registration of the thesis here.

With regard to the master thesis, all three steps including submission, evaluation and defense of the thesis (oral exam) should be completed until the end of the semester. Other prior arrangements with the supervisor (at the first conversation at the beginning of the semester) are possible.

Colloquium

After assigning the topic and registering your work, you have time to familiarize yourself with your topic. The colloquium takes place after about 3-5 weeks. The purpose of the colloquium is to present and discuss the objectives and the structure of your work in the group of chair staff and the other students who are writing their thesis at our chair.

Thesis topics

The chair will provide you with topic suggestions. However, you can also come up with your own proposal.

The topics are to been dealt with either tax systematically, tax planning, theoretically or empirically (quantitatively or qualitatively). Own proposals that fall within the range of topics of the chair can be submitted in advance of the information sessions. It is generally useful if you are clear about your preferences (topic area and, if applicable, methodological approaches) before the information session.

Essentially, topics are assigned from the following areas:

  • Business Taxation (Unternehmensbesteuerung)
  • Tax Professionals (Berufsfeld Steuern)
  • Tax Politics (Steuerpolitik)
  • Taxation and Society (Steuern und Gesellschaft)

More information about formal requirements of the thesis can be found after acceptance in the respective Moodle course.

We additionally recommend the services of the Writing Center (Schreibzentrum) and the University Library for literature search and to help you improve your writing process.