The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA 1997) reduced the net operating loss (NOL) carryback period from three to two years, thereby creating a short term incentive effect due to the increased opportunity cost of not recognizing a NOL in the transitional fiscal year of 1997. Specifically, failure...

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997 (TRA 1997) reduced the net operating loss (NOL) carryback period from three to two years, thereby creating a short term incentive effect due to the increased opportunity cost of not recognizing a NOL in the transitional fiscal year of 1997. Specifically, failure...

This study investigates whether firms with aggressive tax planning strategies have less readable financial reports. In theory, tax-planning increases firm value through tax savings but can lead to a discount if applied too aggressively. Therefore, managers have an incentive to obfuscate their...

This paper examines the impact of tax enforcement and public listing status on income shifting by multinational corporations (MNCs). For a sample of over 8,000 subsidiaries that are majority-owned by 959 European MNCs over the period 1998-2009, we find strong evidence of income shifting from...

We investigate whether the level of ownership by institutional shareholders with a long-term horizon is associated with firms’ tax avoidance activities. In theory, tax avoidance increases firm value through tax savings; however, institutions with long-term investment horizons are likely to...

In this paper, we examine religiosity as one determinant of tax avoidance by corporate and individual taxpayers. Prior research suggests a relation between religiosity and risk aversion. Because aggressive tax avoidance strategies involve significant uncertainty and possible penalties and damage...