COMPANY. For purposes of taxable, must be defined. Generally, it is defined by the law of the taxing jurisdiction. For instance, in the US, company is defined legally by the structure of the ownership: (i) Sole proprietorship, (ii) Partnership, or (iii) corporation. This identity of the entity is done at time of registration or subsequent change of registration or incorporation.

INCOME TAX LIABILITY falls on the person or entity that earns "taxable income." If the company is:

Sole proprietorship, the owner of the company is the bearer of the income tax burden.

Partnership. If the "company" is a partnership, the partnership does not pay the income tax because the income earned during the taxable year is considered as "flush"---that is the income is a flush-through or go through the partnership, i.e. distributed to all partners---in that case each partner is responsible for his/her income tax. If the partner is a natural person, treat the income tax as a tax on a natural person. If the partner is a corporation, tax the income under corporate income tax law.

Corporation. If the income earner is a corporation, the corporation as an entity (legal person) bears the burden on paying income tax. Generally, corporate income tax rate differs from the rate imposed on natural person earners.

Thus described is the American model. Other jurisdiction may be different according to the jurisdiction's income tax law or statute.

REFERENCES: See links for US and UK models.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2007/3/contents

HI,

You may have a look at this recent paper:

 Institutional Ownership and Corporate Tax Avoidance: New Evidence.

By: Khan, Mozaffar; Srinivasan, Suraj; Liang Tan.

Accounting Review. Mar2017, Vol. 92 Issue 2, p101-122. 22p. 11 Charts, 2 Graphs. DOI: 10.2308/accr-51529.

Sujets: Tax shelters; Institutional ownership (Stocks); Corporate tax planning; Agency theory; Agency costs

Best regards