This study examines the tax avoidance behavior of firms prior to the issuance, and following the resolution, of SEC tax comment letters. We find that firms that appear to engage in greater tax avoidance are more likely to receive a tax-related SEC comment letter. We also find that firms...

Using a large proprietary data set from the internal records of the Finnish Tax Administration for the fiscal year 2011, we examine the factors that trigger adjustments by the tax authority to the taxable income reported by around 25,000 small private companies. Using that data, we develop a new...

To date, there is mixed evidence on the implications of tax avoidance on firm value as measured by Tobin's q or stock price reactions. The take-away from prior literature is that increased opportunities for rent extraction associated with tax avoidance (e.g., in low governance firms), might...

Using a valuation framework, we show that two dimensions of tax avoidance, uncertainty and the level of expected future tax rates, are jointly related to firm value and need to be expressed as a ratio. We confirm the importance of a composite measure of tax avoidance adjusted for tax uncertainty...

Using a sample of cross-country observations, we examine the impact of the implementation of country-by-country reporting (CbCr) by the European Union in 2016 on audit fees. We posit that on one hand increased tax transparency increases both firms’ demand for audit effort to better support the...

We take advantage of recent indirect tax reforms in India to study the incentives to engage in indirect tax avoidance and shareholder valuation of such avoidance. Our results suggest that size of the product portfolio, geographical proximity of manufacturing facilities to headquarters, ownership...

We use a unique matched tax return-financial statement data set to examine the magnitude and sources of book-tax differences in Germany. For the first time, the data set enables us to evaluate the extent to which financial and tax accounting differ in Germany in the most accurate manner. Despite...

Research on the determinants of tax avoidance have relied on tests using GAAP and cash effective tax rates (ETRs) and total and permanent book-tax differences (BTDs). Two new proxies have emerged that overcome documented limitations of these proxies: one, developed by Henry and Sansing (2018),...

We examine how a comprehensive change in book-tax conformity affects firms' reporting behavior. To this end, we exploit a Reform Act as a quasi-natural experiment which implied a decrease in book-tax conformity in Germany in 2010. In particular, this reform allows firms to exercise tax...