Questioning Organizational Legitimacy: The Case of U.S. Expatriates

It has been estimated that U.S. companies with global business operations can reduce their U.S. tax bill by up to 10 percentage points if they reincorporate in a zero or low tax offshore jurisdiction. But this activity, at a time of national crisis following the September 11 terrorists' attacks and recent spate of corporate scandals, has received a less than sympathetic response from the U.S. media, ordinary taxpayers, shareholders and politicians as concerns are raised about the reduction of the tax base and the lack of oversight and regulation in offshore centres. Offshore reincorporation has been condemned as immoral, unconscionable, dishonest and unpatriotic, accusations that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the companies concerned. In question is their right to conduct business in the U.S. and in particular, their right to still be viewed as American. Their legitimacy once bestowed so readily by the company's shareholders is now being questioned not only by shareholders but also the media, politicians, government regulators, pension funds and labour unions. Expatriate companies have been slow to respond to questions of their legitimacy, viewing their offshore move as a financial decision needing only the consent of their shareholders. However, times have changed and corporate legitimacy is now in the hands of all the company's stakeholders. Companies will need to explicitly consider the determinants of their legitimacy and the implications of the implied social contract under which they operate, to remain relevant in the days ahead.     

Do Variations in the Strength of Corporate Governance Still Matter? A Comparison of the Pre- and Post-Regulation Environment

Corporate scandals brought the issue of corporate governance to the forefront of the agendas of lawmakers and regulators in the early 2000s. As a result, Congress, the New York Stock Exchange, and the NASDAQ enacted standards to improve the quality of corporate governance, thereby enhancing the quantity and quality of disclosures by listed companies. We investigate the relationship between corporate governance strength and the quality of disclosures in pre- and post-regulation time periods. If cross-sectional differences in corporate governance policies affect the quality of financial disclosures, the quality of information available to analysts varies with such policies. Specifically, higher quality disclosures, produced as a result of strong corporate governance, should lead to more accurate and less dispersed analysts’ forecasts. Our analysis suggests that voluntary implementation of stronger corporate governance enhanced the quality of disclosures in the pre-regulation period; however, exceeding current corporate governance standards does not appear to result in higher quality disclosures post-regulation. These results suggest that SOX and the stronger regulations enacted by U.S. exchanges were effective in reducing variation in the quality of financial information available to investors.     

浅析企业税收风险的成因与防范

目前，企业讨论最多的是财务风险、审计风险等，忽视了税收风险对企业影响。但随着经济的迅猛发展和交易的复杂多变性以及税收征纳过程中许多不确定因素的逐渐增多，税收风险也日益引起了人们的注意。税收风险按主体分为：企业（纳税主体）税收风险和税务部门（征税主体）税收风险。本文主要在分析产生企业税收风险原因的基础上，浅析其防范的措施，以便减弱税收风险对企业的负面影响。     

Tax Policy and Entrepreneurship: New Time Series Evidence

Have tax policies affected entrepreneurial activity in the U.S.? We extend the time series literature on this topic by using more recent data and modern econometric techniques to examine the importance of federal income, payroll, capital gains, corporate income, and estate taxes on self-employment rates. Regression results show that most of these taxes have significant but small effects on self-employment activity. A battery of cointegration and causality tests confirms the general finding that taxes can have significant influences on entrepreneurship, but they are likely to be ineffective tools for generating meaningful changes in entrepreneurial activity.     

COVID-19 and corporate tax avoidance: International evidence

Governments across the globe initiated various tax reforms in the post- Global Financial Crisis period to rein in aggressive corporate tax avoidance for managing budget deficits. These developments created new realities in the international business environment by altering the costs and benefits of corporate tax management. Yet, we have a limited understanding of the effectiveness of tax reforms in controlling corporate tax avoidance at the global level. COVID-19 offers a litmus test for how corporates manage their taxes during the pandemic in light of past tax reforms. We use financial constraints and reputational costs as two contradicting theoretical perspectives to explain corporate tax avoidance during the crisis. Consistent with the financial constraints hypothesis, we find that firms avoid taxes amid COVID-19 to prevent liquidity crunches. Our study also highlights the role of country-level information and governance quality in curbing tax avoidance during extreme events like COVID-19. Our findings call for an immediate tax policy intervention to limit corporate tax avoidance during the ongoing pandemic phases.     

我国个人所得税征管现状及改革的思考

目前,我国个人所得税征管中存在着征管制度不健全,征管效果不理想;个人所得税占税收总额比重过低,工薪阶层成纳税主体,未体现税负公平等主要问题。应改革现行税制模式,实行综合与分类相结合的税制;调整和简化税率结构,采用更加灵活的费用扣除标准;增强纳税人的意识,完善个人信誉约束机制;加大对偷税逃税行为的查处、打击和惩罚力度。     

A Comparative Study on Perceived Ethics of Tax Evasion: Hong Kong Vs the United States

This article begins with a review of the literature on the ethics of tax evasion and identifies the three main views that have emerged over the centuries, namely always ethical, sometimes ethical, and never or almost never ethical. It then reports on the results of a survey of HK and U.S. university business students who were asked to express their opinions on the 15 statements covering the three main views. The data are then analyzed to determine which of the three viewpoints is dominant among the sample population. Although it was found that HK scores were significantly different from the U.S. scores, both HK and U.S. respondents were opposed to the view that tax evasion is always or almost always ethical. The strongest arguments justifying tax evasion were in cases where the government was corrupt, the tax system was unfair and unaffordable. The weakest arguments for justifying tax evasion were in cases where there was a selfish motive. The underlying cultural differences are further explored in hope of accounting for differing perceptions of ethics of tax evasion. Policy implications for increasing people’s awareness of ethics on tax evasion are also highlighted.     

Multinational enterprises and corporate tax planning: A review of literature and suggestions for a future research agenda

Corporate tax planning by the multinational enterprise (MNE), that is, the MNE’s ability to plan its tax affairs by using a multitude of strategies to reduce its tax bills legally, is a central research question in the literatures of international business, public economics, tax, finance, law and accounting. Underlying theoretical assumptions, approaches to empirical testing, profit shifting estimation strategies and findings are varied. Thus, it is important to conduct a critical literature review. In this paper, we offer new insights by studying the phenomenon from the international business (IB) perspective. We survey the academic literature on the MNE and corporate tax planning to examine the extent of knowledge on this topic and identify areas that we hope will stimulate interest among IB scholars for further research. We find materials across disciplines that are relevant to IB readers. We examine 120 articles in 51 scholarly journals and classic books published during the period 1966-2017. We identify the key mechanisms and the firm characteristics that may influence corporate tax planning. We suggest a research agenda where IB research can make clear contributions.     

Endogenous cyclical corporate tax burden in China: The role of tax quotas and growth targets

Using data from China Annual Survey of Industrial Firms and addressing potential endogeneity problem, we find that corporate tax burden in China is procyclical during recessions and countercyclical during booms. The cyclicality is stronger for enterprises whose corporate income taxes are levied by Local Tax Bureau (LTB). Procyclicality of corporate tax burden during recessions is larger for enterprises located in county, non-state-owned enterprises (non-SOEs), non-high-tech enterprises and large-medium enterprises. Furthermore, tax quotas and growth targets of local governments enhance procyclicality during recessions and the countercyclicality of corporate tax burden during booms. Tax collection and government spending are important channels through which tax quotas and growth targets affect the cyclicality of corporate tax burden, respectively. This paper provides important policy implications for China during economic recessions.     

Do taxes level the playing field?: How U.S. tax policy affects the investment decisions of foreign affiliates in the United States

Recent research has suggested that tax reforms in the United States in the last decade have increased taxes on U.S. investors, but left foreign investors unscathed, fueling a boom in foreign investment. Other researchers claim that uneven enforcement of U.S. corporate tax laws and the opportunity to shift income to artificially lower tax locations give foreign investors yet another advantage over U.S. domestic firms. Willard examines these theories and shows how reforms can create competitive advantages—or disadvantages—for foreign firms relative to domestic firms.     

税负水平上升对我国税收结构变动的影响

借鉴税收结构变动指数分析中国税负水平与税收结构整体波动的关系,并运用省际面板数据构建计量模型,进一步考察近十几年来税负水平的不断攀升对中国税收结构变动的影响。研究结果显示:税负水平的不断上升推动了税收结构的大幅调整,且使得税收增长更加依赖企业所得税;物价上涨和货币化水平对中国税收结构的变化产生了不同的影响。     

经济一体化、公司所得税竞争与FDI流动研究——以新老欧盟成员国的税收竞争为例

本文在Ottaviano(2005)的税收竞争模型的框架下,分析了在经济一体化条件下公司所得税竞争对资本流动的影响,并利用实证研究论证了欧盟内新欧盟成员国与老欧盟成员国之间的公司所得税竞争对FDI流动的影响。分析表明,欧洲市场一体化程度的加深是导致税收竞争加剧的最主要原因。东道国降低名义公司所得税率对资本流动没有影响,只有相对于母国实际税率的降低才是影响资本流动的关键因素。     

浅析企业所得税费用的确认和计量

所得税会计关系着国家税款征收和企业收益分配。它主要是针对会计与税收处理规定的不同造成的资产、负债的账面价值与其计税基础的差异。如何确认相关的递延所得税,以及如何确定利润表中应予确认的所得税费用是本文论述的重点。     

营改增背景下企业办税人员素质现状及提升路径

当前不断推进的营改增对企业税务管理工作提出了更高要求,对企业办税人员素质形成了新的考量。本文分析了营改增背景下税企双方对企业办税人员的素质要求,结合地方企业办税人员的素质现状,探究其影响因素。提出应严格企业办税人员准入制度,建立配套的职称晋升和有效的激励机制,为办税人员营造良好的职业发展空间,促进其综合素质的全面提升,为地方经济发展助力。     

增值税费用特性--来自中国情境下的经验证据

通过增值税、营业税的对比研究,表明增值税与营业税同样显著地影响企业盈余,也同样是税务筹划关注的重要税种,但因增值税未纳入利润表,给企业管理层提供了隐秘的税务筹划机会。建议将增值税费用化处理并纳入利润表,既有利于“营改增”后的税收监管,还能约束企业管理层的税务筹划,更真实地反映企业盈余。研究还发现,公司治理结构中董事长、总经理的职位若由同一人担任,可显著影响增值税的现金流动,这应是完善公司治理的方向。     

外资企业税收负担与FDI规模——基于省级面板数据的分析

本文将外资企业的增值税和企业所得税税负作为主要的解释变量，利用省级面板数据来实证检验其对地区FDI规模的影响，并通过测算相关系数来分析FDI对增值税和企业所得税税负的敏感程度，分析表明：不论是增值税税负还是企业所得税税负，都对地区的FDI规模有较强的负面影响，相比于增值税税负，FDI对企业所得税税负的敏感程度更高。     

Tax Impact on Corporate Income Remittances to and from Japan and the United States

This study examines the combined impact of bilateral tax treaties and domestic tax policies on corporate income remit- tances to and from Japan and thc United States. Thc study calculates the two-way flows of corporate reminanccs between these two coun- tries and 100 other countries. We find very significant differences in the tax treatment by these two countries across bolh remittance methods and countries. The study recommends that both govern- ments seek ways to promote greatcr worldwide uniformity in tax treatment of corporate income remittanccs.     

“营改增”政策对上市公司会计稳健性的影响——基于我国沪深A股上市公司样本的实证研究

制度环境是影响企业会计信息质量的重要因素。基于我国营改增改革实践,利用双重差分法研究营改增政策对企业会计稳健性的影响效应及作用路径,并进一步考察企业特征对上述影响效应的异质性。研究表明:营改增政策有助于缓解企业融资约束、降低企业税收负担,同时滋生企业高管攫取超额薪酬,进而降低企业会计稳健性。异质性检验表明,在非国有企业、年轻企业以及高成长性企业中,营改增降低会计稳健性的政策效应更加显著。本文的研究结论对“十三五”规划提出的进一步深化财税体制改革,提高经济运行信息的及时性和准确性具有借鉴意义。     

数字经济对中国海关税基侵蚀及对策研究

数字经济作为新型经济业态,其数字化交付、股债交叉、法人与实体分离等造成的全球税务筹划和利润转移,致使税基侵蚀问题较为突出,已经成为全球经济有效治理的难题。尤其是在我国,因内外贸税制不同、税负差异较大,数字经济对海关税基侵蚀更加显著。本文通过大数据建模,对数字经济造成海关税基侵蚀的形势进行量化分析,并从数据智能和税制改革出发,提出海关有效应对数字贸易发展的意见建议。     

我国地方政府间税收竞争研究：2006-2011年

本文以资源流动模型为理论基础，以我国30个省级政府2006-2011年的财政收入以及地方税种为对象，运用空间面板德宾模型实证研究了地方政府间税收竞争存在性和竞争类型问题，研究结果表明：第一，地方政府间无论在财政总收入还是具体地方税种上都存在空间竞争关系；第二，地方政府间在增值税和企业所得税两种地方税上存在策略互补的竞争类型，而在其他税种上存在策略替代的竞争类型；第三，人口特征变量、就业率变量、固定资产投资率变量、城镇化率变量以及对外开放水平变量对特定或所有地方税税负水平有显著影响。