Most big businesses in Europe support the European Commission's proposal to create a harmonised, pan-European corporate tax system, a new study has found.

Almost four out of five finance directors working at Europe's leading firms support an EU plan to create a common consolidated corporate tax base (CCCTB) to simplify cross-border business. Only in the Republic and Slovakia is there significant opposition to the commission proposal, according to a survey by the tax consultancy KPMG.

Half of the Irish businesses interviewed for the survey said they oppose the proposed CCCTB plan, while just 30 per cent said they were in favour. In Slovakia 50 per cent of firms said they oppose the plan.

Tax professionals in the Czech Republic, Denmark and Spain were most in favour, registering 100 per cent suppor. But there was also strong support in Italy, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, Austria, Finland, Hungary and Portugal.

The results for the UK, which is currently one of the Republic's key allies in opposing CCCTB, show that a majority of big businesses now support the commission proposal. Some 62 per cent of big UK companies said they supported the CCCTB plan.

"We think that opinion in the UK may be moving on the CCCTB idea. One year ago when we asked a similar question only about 50 per cent of respondents said they were in favour of the proposal," said Jeffrey Wagland, a spokesman for KPMG.

Even though the commission is not proposing a single corporate tax rate, some 69 per cent of respondents said they would like to see a single rate for the whole of Europe.

KPMG conducted telephone interviews with finance directors and tax experts working at 403 big companies with operations in the EU or Switzerland. Ten companies were interviewed in the Republic for the survey, while 50 companies were interviewed in Germany, Italy and Britain.