Tax Planning Strategies Research Articles

BEPS EYLEM PLANLARI KAPSAMINDA TÜRK VERGİ MEVZUATINDA YAPILAN DEĞİŞİKLİKLER

Yurtiçi vergi matrağı erozyonu ve karın aktarılması (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting- BEPS) çok uluslu işletmeler tarafından kullanılan vergi ödemekten kaçınma amaçlı vergi yasalarındaki boşlukları kullanan vergi planlama stratejilerine gönderme yapmaktadır. Gelişmiş ülkelerin kurumlar vergisi esası BEPS’den büyük ölçüde ayrılmaktadır. OECD, 2015 tarihinde 13 final raporu yayınlamış ve BEPS projesi kapsamında açıklamalara yer vermiştir. BEPS Eylem Planları OECD üyesi tüm ülkeler için katı hukuk kuralları gibi bağlayıcı olmamakla birlikte referans alınması ve iç mevzuat değişiklikleri yapılması önemlidir. Türkiye de BEPS Eylem Planları kapsamında mevzuatta bazı değişiklikler yapmış; ancak tüm tavsiyelere uygun bir strateji hala geliştirememiştir.

Corporate Tax Planning and Financial Performance of Companies Listed in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)

This study focuses on how best performing listed companies in CSE make strategies in tax planning to reduce tax liabilities without violating rules and regulations imposed by the Tax Authority. In this study, the corporate tax planning was measured by using the Effective Tax Rate (ETR) and the financial performance was measured by using Return on Assets (ROA). The sample of the study was designed based on criteria namely, the largest and most liquid companies in the Sri Lankan equity market and the sample period was restricted for the period 10 years from 2009-2018. The sample represents seventeen (17) companies which are used to calculate the S&P SL 20 index. Data was collected through the published annual reports of CSE of the selected listed companies during the selected financial time period. Co-integration regression along with Panel Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) statistical technique was used to explore this study. Johansen co-integration test confirmed to run the panel DOLS. According to the result of that, corporate tax planning has a negative impact on the financial performance of Sri Lankan best-performing companies listed in CSE however, which is not statistically significant at 5% level. It provides evidence that there is no significant impact from corporate tax planning strategies to the financial performance of listed companies in CSE. This evidence implies that Sri Lankan firms do not utilize the loopholes embedded in the Sri Lankan tax law efficiently. Keywords: Corporate Tax Planning, Colombo Stock Exchange, Co-integration regression, Effective Tax Rate, Financial Performance, Panel Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares, Return on Assets.

Corporate Tax Planning and Financial Performance of Companies Listed in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE)

This study focuses on how best-performing listed companies in CSE make strategies in tax planning to reduce tax liabilities without violating rules and regulations imposed by the Tax Authority. In this study, the corporate tax planning was measured by using the Effective Tax Rate (ETR) and the financial performance was measured by using Return on Assets (ROA). The sample of the study was designed based on criteria namely, the largest and most liquid companies in the Sri Lankan equity market and the sample period was restricted for the period 10 years from 2009-2018. The sample represents seventeen (17) companies which are used to calculate the S&P SL 20 index. Data was collected through the published annual reports of CSE of the selected listed companies during the selected financial time period. Co-integration regression along with Panel Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) statistical technique was used to explore this study. Johansen co-integration test was confirmed to run the panel DOLS. According to the result that, corporate tax planning has a negative impact on the financial performance of Sri Lankan best-performing companies listed in CSE however, which is not statistically significant at 5% level. It provides evidence that there is no significant impact from corporate tax planning strategies on the financial performance of listed companies in CSE. This evidence implies that Sri Lankan firms do not utilize the loopholes embedded in the Sri Lankan tax law efficiently. Keywords: Corporate Tax Planning, Colombo Stock Exchange, Co-integration regression, Effective Tax Rate, Financial Performance, Panel Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares, Return on Assets.

Tax factors affecting FDI allocation in the EU post-socialist states

ABSTRACT The aim of the paper is to reveal the parameters of tax systems – in both the investor and the recipient state – that influence FDI allocation in post-socialist EU countries and cross-border flows of selected types of payments. Our results confirm that investors from EU countries strive to take advantage of both tax rate differences and aggressive tax planning strategies. Regression model estimates show that the investor’s national tax system is of key importance if it allows for the non-taxation of interest income, application of lower rates to royalties and use of special purpose entities. Moreover, the size of FDI is relatively strongly linked to the amount of payments for advisory services and royalties which are often used for aggressive tax planning. The estimated elasticity of FDI to the tax rate is around 1.1 and 1.9 for statutory and effective rates, respectively.

Do Credit Rating Agencies Care About Our International Tax Planning Strategy When Assigning Credit Ratings?

International tax planning strategies, by their very nature, increase firms’ free cash flows, which could improve companies’ creditworthiness. However, these strategies also bring information and agency problems, which may reduce their creditworthiness. To understand which of these effects dominates, this study examines the effect of international tax planning on credit ratings. We find that credit analysts incorporate information related to international tax planning when analyzing a firm’s credit risk and that high international tax planning is associated with less favorable credit ratings. We also find that this effect is mitigated by a higher conflict of interest for the bond rating agencies. Furthermore, we find that the effect of international tax planning operates through the channels of future cash flow effects, agency costs, and information risk. Our results are robust to a difference-in-differences research design using The American Jobs Creation Act of 2004 as an exogenous shock to the benefits from international tax planning, and we document that the effect of international tax planning is different from and incremental to overall tax avoidance.

The Wealth Defence Industry: A Large-scale Study on Accountancy Firms as Profit Shifting Facilitators

ABSTRACT Corporations increasingly engage in innovative ‘tax planning strategies’ by shifting profits between jurisdictions. In response, states try to curtail such profit shifting activities while at the same time attempting to retain and attract multinational corporations. We aim to open up this dichotomy between states and corporations and argue that a wealth defence industry of professional service firms plays a crucial role as facilitators. We investigate the subsidiary structure of 27,000 MNCs and show that clients of the Big Four accountancy firms show systematically higher levels of aggressive tax planning strategies than clients of smaller accountancy firms. We specify this effect for three distinct strategies and also uncover marked differences across countries. As such we provide empirical evidence for the systematic involvement of auditors as facilitators in corporate wealth defence.

Feeling GILTI: Tax Strategies for U.S. Multinational Corporations to Navigate the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

ABSTRACT The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act made significant changes to the U.S. taxation of foreign earnings. The most significant change is the 100 percent dividends-received deduction that generally applies to income earned by foreign subsidiaries. This represents a shift from U.S. tax deferral to U.S. tax exemption of foreign profits, which increases the potential benefit to shifting U.S. income to low-tax foreign jurisdictions. To limit this potential income shifting, Congress enacted new rules, known as GILTI, to supplement the already existing Subpart F rules. In this article, we briefly review the history of U.S. international tax policy and analyze the technical aspects of GILTI. We then discuss some general tax planning strategies and propose four specific tax strategies for companies to consider for minimizing the increased tax burden associated with GILTI. Last, we consider whether GILTI is good tax policy and make recommendations to improve the legislation.

Problems of Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax

The United States (U.S.) has a new tax law known as The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) [1]. It imposes many new provisions dealing with international tax from a U.S. perspective, including several that were designed to prevent the erosion of the U.S. tax base. This article discusses the reasons for these new anti-base erosion provisions and explains how they work. It points out some of the international tax planning techniques used by U.S. and other multinational corporations to shelter income from high taxes. It discusses the temporary and in some cases permanent disallowance of deductions for interest expense, the disallowance of royalty expenses, and the new base erosion and anti-abuse tax (BEAT). This paper also presents examples and offer tax planning strategies.

A Real Option Approach to Sustainable Corporate Tax Behavior

Aggressive tax planning has become a sustainability problem, as governments have to cope with less tax revenue, which is crucial for investments in sustainable development goals. The OECD and the EU authorities have taken several initiatives against aggressive tax planning, such as the Action Plan against BEPS. However, these initiatives lack effectiveness, and aggressive tax planning is still omnipresent. We analyze the fight against aggressive corporate tax planning from a Real Option Theory perspective, in order to find an explanation for the difficult shift of companies’ aggressive tax planning strategies to more sustainable tax behavior. The Real Option Theory shows that, as long as the option to ‘delay’ the investment in sustainable tax behavior has too much value because the benefits of such investment are uncertain, companies will wait. Based on this new understanding, we suggest additional public policy interventions against aggressive tax planning. These interventions aim directly at reducing this real option value (of waiting).

Valuation Implications of Socially Responsible Tax Avoidance: Evidence from the Electricity Industry

Prior literature suggests that firms may bear reputational costs associated with corporate tax avoidance, which could in turn reduce the net present value of firms’ tax planning strategies. Other research indicates that investors perceive corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities and tax avoidance as inconsistent with each other when engaged in concurrently. However, these studies do not consider the fact that firms may have opportunities to avoid tax in socially responsible ways. We investigate the equity valuation implications of one form of socially responsible tax avoidance: claiming the renewable electricity production tax credit (PTC). We predict and find that investors more positively value tax savings generated from PTCs compared to other forms of corporate tax avoidance. Additionally, consistent with the role that CSR can play in enhancing a firm’s reputational capital, we find evidence of a spillover effect in which investors more positively value other sources of tax avoidance to the extent the firm also reduces its taxes in a socially responsible way.

Measuring labour tax avoidance and undeclared work: evidence from tax-avoidant offending firms

PurposeThis paper develops novel proxies for labour tax avoidance (LTAV) and tests their validity within a sample of 189 labour tax-avoidant offending firms (LTAOFs) accused of evading social security contributions (SOCs) by public authorities.Design/methodology/approachLTAV proxies are based on abnormal values of SOCs paid, reported in the income statements of a sample of 857,790 Spanish firm-years for the period 2001–2015, estimated through two-stage least square panel data regressions with firm fixed effects.FindingsThe results reveal that proxies specifically built to signal both conforming and non-conforming LTAV can provide evidence of abnormally low SOCs as expenses within the sample of LTAOFs. Furthermore, firm-specific financial variables as well as macroeconomic variables significantly influence LTAV.Research limitations/implicationsThis study could foster further research on the efficacy of the LTAV proxies and on the drivers and sustainability implications of LTAV for firms and their stakeholders in different socio-economic and institutional contexts.Practical implicationsThese LTAV proxies could integrate other methods applied to estimate the undeclared work and its trends. Furthermore, they may assist tax authorities to direct their inspections, detect labour tax evasion and then strengthen the social protection of the employees from employers' illegal exploitation practices, as well as reducing tax revenue shortfalls and related sustainability concerns in the social security systems.Originality/valueThis study proposes a novel methodology to examine LTAV and its determinants through accounting information. This methodology may support researchers to provide a more comprehensive picture of tax planning strategies pursued by companies, that include LTAV, and in this way integrate the extant mature literature on income tax avoidance.

GLOBAL BUSINESS NETWORK: OFF-SHORE MODEL’S DIVERSIFICATION AND IMPACT

Modern literature lacks systematization and assessment of impact of network of international corporations and their off-shore models on development of national economies in post-industrial times. There is variety of tools besides well-known multinational corporate accounting policies and strategies of MNCs that provide mechanism for the management of transaction costs in reporting period, thus reducing the amount of taxable profit due to application of the method of accelerated depreciation and channels of tax deferrals, which allow to reduce corporate tax payments owing to the objective reduction of real purchasing power of money over time. The purpose of the article is to propose in-depth systematization of balanced pros and cons for further development of national FDI policies aimed at network of MNCs. The paper utilizes a compound methodology of review and systematization to calculate overall impact of offshoring that exceeds 1% of global GDP. While modern financial and economic activities of MNC’s distinguish both internal and external offshoring, the paper focuses upon endogenous one. The key attention is on dominant ones – tax inversion phenomenon is known as base erosion and profit shifting, tax planning strategies, international debt shifting, models of tax treaty shopping, tax deferral, tax hybrids, strategic transfer pricing tools. In business and financial management MNCs resort to the development of extremely complex network structures of parent and subsidiary companies in order to increase international competitive advantages. MNCs make special efforts to recruit staff capable of effectively performing key functions in the field of corporate offshoring. We find huge regional asymmetries in MNCs impact on development of national economies. On one hand, a number of highly profitable corporations pay almost zero tax in favour of their countries of registration; on the other, MNCs create jobs, markets, volumes and asymmetries of geographical structure of differences in the value of goods and services supplied through international trade between developing and developed countries due to enormous scale of business offshoring.

Analisis Keputusan Transfer Pricing Berdasarkan Pajak, Tunneling dan Exchange Rate

Tax has two points of view, for the government tax is a source of state revenue that has the largest contribution, but for tax companies is a burden that must be paid. Often companies do tax planning strategies so that the tax burden that must be borne by the company becomes smaller. Companies usually exploit loopholes from the use of accounting methods allowed by accounting and taxation rules. Transfer Pricing is one of the ways companies take to reduce the tax burden. This study aims to determine and obtain empirical evidence about the effect of tax, tunneling and exchange rates on transfer pricing decisions both partially and simultaneously on manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) for the 2013-2017 period. The research method used is descriptive and verification analysis method. The population in this study were 144 manufacturing companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in the period 2013-2017. Sampling using a purposive sampling method and obtained a sample of 20 companies. The results of this study indicate that partially significant positive effect on transfer pricing decisions, tunneling does not significantly influence the transfer pricing and exchange rate decisions do not significantly influence the transfer pricing decision, but simultaneously the results of this study indicate that taxes, tunneling and exchange rates affect significant to the transfer pricing decision.

Tax Planning Strategies and Profitability of Quoted Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

Profitability has been the aim of every commercial enterprise but are often not actualized due to high costs and high Effective Tax Rates (ETR). In order to manage the effects of taxes on the profitability of firms, strategies are employed to plan the taxes. This research work focused on effect of Tax Planning Strategies on Profitability of manufacturing firms in Nigeria. <i>Ex-post facto</i> research design was adopted for the study. The main objective of the study was to examine the effect of Tax Planning Strategies on Profitability of Quoted Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria. The population of the Study comprised of 52 manufacturing companies quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange as at 17^th December, 2018 with 46 as the sample size calculated using Taro Yamani’s formula. Data were collected from the audited annual reports of the sampled companies for a period of 10 years (2008 – 2017). The validity and reliability were based on the statutory audit of the financial statements. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. The result revealed that there is no significant effect of TP on Return On Assets (ROA) of Quoted Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria. This is evidenced by the results of the test, <i>Adj.R²</i> = -0.000527 and <i>F-Statistics</i> = 0.919439 and <i>P-value</i> of 0.431292. The Study concluded that tax planning strategies have both negative and positive effects on profitability of Quoted Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria. The study recommended that Tax Managers and Finance Officers should reduce thin capitalization and Capital Intensity to balance the source of income of manufacturing firms, while Research and Development costs should be properly managed to increase their contributions to profitability. Professional Tax Practioners should also be consulted for maximum benefit from tax planning.

Tax-Induced Earnings Management and Book-Tax Conformity: International Evidence from Unconsolidated Accounts

We examine an international panel of firms to quantify the degree of conforming tax avoidance associated with changes to statutory tax rates and how book-tax conformity alters this type of earnings management. Methodologically, we derive an estimation method that identifies conforming tax avoidance from the cross-border profit shifting literature. Using this approach in an international setting, we find robust evidence of substantial conforming tax avoidance in response to changing statutory tax rates and identify circumstances where this response is stronger. Specifically, the results suggest that a 10 percentage point decrease in the corporate tax rate relates to an 8.2 percent inflation of pre-tax book income, which is more pronounced (smaller) in private (public) firms. Further, this response is stronger when a country switches from having a low to high degree of conformity between its book and tax reporting, highlighting the role of book-tax conformity for a firm’s tax planning strategies.

Understanding the interaction of motivation and opportunity for tax planning inside US multinationals: A qualitative study

We explore the internal workings of tax planning within US multinational enterprises (MNEs) using a qualitative research method. We conduct a series of interviews with senior tax executives, which we supplement with other public information. We find that US MNEs adopt a heterogenous range of approaches driven by the motivations as well as the opportunities to reduce their tax bill legally. We develop a new theoretical framework that analyses the interactions of motivations and opportunities in MNEs’ tax planning strategy. We generate four typologies of corporate tax payers. Our study provides new insights detailing why and how companies plan their tax.

WITHHOLDING TAX SYSTEM UNTUK PEMUNGUTAN PAJAK: UPAYA PENINGKATAN PENERIMAAN PAJAK VS INSTRUMEN TAX PLANNING

Taxes are the greatest source of country income. The funds derived from the tax are used to perform the development of State infrastructure. Various efforts have been made by the Government to be able to set tax payments, one of which by implementing the withholding tax system. This system is expected to increase tax acceptance, but some parties actually utilize it in a tax planning strategy as an effort to streamline the tax burden to be paid. So far, tax revenues in Indonesia are still relatively low compared to the expected. Financial Minister of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani stated that the government can only collect tax revenues of 14.1% of the Indonesian Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Nevertheless, research proves that overall withholding tax system has been able to increase tax revenues in Indonesia both income tax and value added tax. Withholding tax system proved to have a positive impact in the taxation in Indonesia although it needs to be improved in these effectiveness and efficiency.

Financial market development and firm investment in tax avoidance: Evidence from credit default swap market

Abstract Lenders reduce their monitoring efforts after hedging their credit risk exposure through credit default swap (CDS) contracts, which are akin to insurance against borrowers’ adverse credit events. In this study, we examine whether, upon observing the reduced lender monitoring following CDS trading, shareholders demand that borrowing firms invest in more aggressive tax planning strategies, which were previously constrained by risk-averse lenders. Using a difference-in-differences design that exploits the variation in timing of the inception of CDS trading, we document that borrowers exhibit greater tax avoidance after the inception of CDS trading. Consistent with shareholders stepping up their demands post-CDS, we find that the increase in tax avoidance is stronger for (i) firms with more powerful and influential shareholders, as measured by dedicated institutional investors, (ii) firms with stronger shareholder defenders, as measured by board independence and board size, and (iii) firms with more strategic default options. We also find that borrowers with higher levels of tax avoidance are less likely to file for bankruptcy in the future. Our findings are robust to a battery of sensitivity checks, including controlling for cost of debt and endogeneity, as well as using alternative measures of tax avoidance.

Trade‐offs between Tax and Financial Reporting Benefits: Evidence from Purchase Price Allocations in Taxable Acquisitions

ABSTRACTUnder U.S. GAAP, firms recognize assets acquired in business combinations at fair value. Similarly, in taxable asset acquisitions firms adjust the tax basis of assets to fair value. Managers can increase the present value of future tax savings by allocating a greater portion of the purchase price to shorter‐lived assets than to goodwill or indefinite‐lived intangibles. However, this tax planning strategy imposes a financial reporting cost because it reduces book income following the acquisition; all else equal, allocations to shorter‐lived depreciable assets increase book depreciation expense, whereas allocations to goodwill and indefinite‐lived intangibles do not increase book amortization expense. We exploit the features of taxable asset acquisitions to investigate trade‐offs between tax and financial reporting incentives. We predict and find greater allocations to depreciable versus intangible assets when managers have strong tax incentives and weak financial reporting incentives. However, we also find that strong financial reporting incentives moderate the effects of strong tax incentives. These findings contribute new evidence to the literature on the importance of nontax costs in tax planning decisions

'Will You Marry Me...In December?' -- Tax-Induced Wedding Date Shifting and Mismatching in Long-Term Relationships

We use administrative micro-level data of all 1,799,066 divorce cases in Germany over the 2006 to 2015 period to empirically show that marriages with weddings at year end last considerably shorter than does the average (median) marriage. Specifically the average (median) difference (conditional on divorce) between marriages with December weddings and marriages with weddings in all remaining months is 500.4 (654) days with overall length of marriage being 5223.6 (4498) days. We attribute this empirical observation to the German marriage tax benefit which is granted for the entire calendar year if the couple is married for at least one day therein. In response to this incentive, couples use forward shifting of the ’legal’ wedding date as a tax planning strategy to collect the marriage tax benefit for the year(s) prior to their ’real’ (i.e. in the absence of any tax benefit) date of the wedding. We theoretically model this decision and argue that, in essence, couples forego sufficient courtship time to collect the marriage tax benefit, and hence, mismatching in long-term relationships results.