Do Controlling Persons' Foreign Residency Rights Induce Private Firms to Avoid More Taxes?

Abstract

In recent years,various social celebrities,including many well-known private entrepreneurs,have obtained foreign residency rights. Such a phenomenon has been in the media spotlight and has captured the attention from the public. Do foreign residency rights provide convenience for firm tax avoidance? In response to this phenomenon,this paper analyzes the effect of controlling persons' foreign residency rights on tax decisions in private listed companies. Theoretical analysis shows that,on one hand,foreign residency rights may provide a protective umbrella for illegal or non-compliant behavior of corporate controlling persons,which could lead to a higher incidence of tax avoidance in firms whose controlling persons have foreign residency rights; on the other hand,such firms may be subject to tighter regulation that increases the risk of discovering tax avoidance,so these firms may ultimately engage in less corporate tax avoidance. Empirical study finds that private listed companies whose controlling persons have foreign residency rights are associated with lower degree of tax avoidance,confirming the expectation of the second hypothesis. Further analysis indicates that the negative association between foreign residency rights and tax avoidance significantly weakens in listed companies whose controlling persons have higher cash flow rights. This result is consistent with that controlling persons with higher cash flow rights will obtain greater proportion of tax benefits,thus the firms have stronger motivation for tax avoidance. It extends the academic literature of the relationship between corporate executives (board characteristics) and corporate decision-making,and also has important implications for relevant tax collection activities of tax departments.