The purpose of this comparative survey is to provide country reports on the concept of substance in international taxation. Although the substance requirement has since long been an important part of the functioning of different taxation rules, the focus on this concept has recently increased. The BEPS initiative, launched by the G20 and led by the OECD, may result in changes to the substance requirement as it is expressed in different kinds of norms such as domestic laws, tax treaties and soft law. The European Union is interested in these developments and adheres to the work of the OECD on BEPS, while conducting certain initiatives on its own.Given these recent developments, the International Transfer Pricing Journal wishes to present an overview of certain issues related to the substance requirement in several jurisdictions. The purpose of this study is to show the complexity, the diversity, but also the similarities between some of the requirements of different countries. At this point, the substance requirements in transfer pricing are deliberately not included in the questionnaire so as to limit the scope of this study. The outline has been prepared in cooperation with Jérôme Monsenego (Associate Professor of tax law, Uppsala University).