This paper presents a model that relates a multinational firm's optimal debt policy to taxation and to non-tax factors such as the desire to prevent bankruptcy. The model yields the predictions that a multinational's indebtedness in a country depends on national tax rates and differences between...

This paper reviews recent evidence analyzing the link between earnings management and corporate tax avoidance and considers the implications for how policymakers should evaluate the financial reporting environment facing firms. A real-world tax shelter is dissected to illustrate how tax shelter...

We estimate firms' implied cost of capital and examine the effects of dividend taxes on this ex ante measure. The results support the dividend tax capitalization hypothesis. We find a positive relation between implied cost of equity capital and dividend yield that is decreasing in aggregate...

This paper analyzes dividend remittances by a large panel of foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational firms. The dividend policies of foreign affiliates, which convey no signals to public capital markets, nevertheless resemble those used by publicly held companies in paying dividends to diffuse...

We analyze the net tax advantage of S corporations relative to C corporations. Our analysis indicates that the net tax advantage is economically important; it varies directly with the company's payout ratio, the marginal corporate tax rate, and the capital gains rate of the marginal investor;...

This paper identifies tax planning strategies necessary to implement tax induced debt finance and tests empirically if German multinationals use such tax planning strategies. This check allows to verify, whether the empirically well documented increase of the leverage with corporate tax rates is...

The tax depreciation decision potentially has significant impact on the profitability of firms and projects. Indeed, the depreciation method chosen for tax purposes affects the timing of tax payments, and, as a consequence, it also affects the after-tax net present value of investment projects....

Over a decade ago, several Canadian provinces replaced their retail sales taxes by value-added taxes. This paper estimates the effects of this tax substitution on business investment in the reforming provinces. Consistent with theory, we find that the reform led to significant increases in...

In this paper I exploit a unique feature of the Greek institutional environment, whereby alternative cash compensation payments to directors are taxed differently from the point of view of both personal and corporate taxes. Specifically, board directors can receive cash compensation either in...

Tax sparing occurs when a country with a worldwide tax system grants its citizens foreign tax credits for the taxes that they would have paid on income earned abroad, but that escapes taxation by virtue of foreign tax incentives. The supporters of tax sparing argue that it is a form of foreign...