Cost of capital equations under the Australian imputation tax system

Since the introduction of the Australian imputation tax system, there have been problems both in the measurement of the market value of franking (imputation tax) credits and in their application to estimating cash flows and the cost of capital. In the present paper, we provide a convenient and robust resolution to the above problems in the context of an internally consistent set of equations for the cost of capital, asset valuation and the capital asset pricing model (CAPM). The equations apply under both classical and imputation tax systems and under differential taxation of dividends, capital gains and interest. The simple form of the CAPM presented here is shown to encompass more complex versions of the CAPM, which attempt to accommodate the effect of personal taxes. The valuation equations require an estimate of the market value of $1 of the firm's dividends, within which is embedded the market value of the imputation tax credits. Separate estimates of the value of imputation tax credits, or Officer's gamma factor, are not required.     

Taxes and dividends: The UK evidence

This paper provides empirical evidence on the simultaneous effects of both corporation and personal income taxes on dividend payment adjustments and on the behaviour of share prices on the ex-dividend dates. The results show that companies set their dividend policies to minimise their tax liability and to maximise the after-tax return of their shareholders. In particular, firms that are unable to deduct the advanced corporation tax from their tax liability are found to pay low dividends. In addition, consistent with the tax hypothesis, we find that the differential taxation of dividends and capital gains results in a decrease in ex-day share prices by significantly less than the amount of the dividend. There is no evidence of a tax-induced dividend clientele.     

Capital Gains Taxes and Equity Trading: Empirical Evidence

Individual investors have an incentive to defer selling appreciated stock until it qualifies for tax‐favored, long‐term capital gains treatment. Shackelford and Verrecchia [2002] show that these incentives can affect equity trading around public disclosures. This article provides some empirical support for their theory with evidence of price increases and equity constrictions around announcements of quarterly earnings and additions to the S&P 500 index. We find share returns rise and trading volume falls with the incremental taxes saved by deferring the sale of appreciated property. The price increases, however, are temporary, reversing in subsequent trading days. The results are consistent with buyers believing the compensation to sell before long‐term qualification (through higher prices) is less costly than holding an inappropriately weighted portfolio. This finding—that personal capital gains taxes affect equity trading—adds to a growing literature that challenges longstanding assumptions that firm value is independent of shareholders and their taxes.     

New Evidence That Taxes Affect the Valuation of Dividends

This paper uses British data to examine the effects of dividend taxes on investors' relative valuation of dividends and capital gains. British data offer great potential to illuminate the dividends and taxes question, since there have been two radical changes and several minor reforms in British dividend tax policy during the last 30 years. Studying the relationship between dividends and stock price movements during different tax regimes offers an ideal controlled experiment for assessing the effects of taxes on investors' valuation of dividends. Using daily data on a small sample of firms, and monthly data on a much broader sample, we find clear evidence that taxes affect the equilibrium relationship between dividend yields and market returns. These findings suggest that taxes are important determinants of security market equilibrium and deepen the puzzle of why firms pay dividends.     

The Effect of Cum- to Ex-Dividend Changes on UK Share Prices

The price behaviour of a share at the time of its going ex-dividend presents an intriguing observable. Previous authors have argued that the statistic is indicative of ‘shareholder rationality’. This is to say, if shareholders ‘rationally' capitalise their dividends received on an after personal tax basis, the change in the price of a share on its going ex-dividend should be a well-defined function of shareholders’ assessment of their own personal tax brackets. In turn this would substantiate the ‘clientele effect’ hypothesis whereby shareholders with high income/low capital gain tax brackets hold shares with high growth companies, and shareholders with low income/high capital gain tax brackets hold shares with low-growth companies. Our statistical analysis provides evidence of the clientele effect in the UK stock market.     

Effects of tax reform on drop-off ratios and on the ex-dividend and ex-right prices

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of the integrated tax system introduced in Taiwan on the valuation of dividends. Based on Elton and Gruber??s (Rev Econ Stat 52:68?C74, 1970) model, the ratio of ex-day price drop to cash dividend per share (i.e., the drop-off ratio) should reflect the relative taxes on dividends and capital gains. In Taiwan, the suspension of capital gains taxes, the coexistence of taxable and non-taxable stock dividends, and the change in tick sizes allow us to control for the influences of non-tax factors on drop-off ratios. In this paper, we find significant increases in drop-off ratios for both cash dividends and taxable stock dividends after Taiwan??s tax reform (in 1998), while we find no significant changes in drop-off ratios for non-taxable stock dividends. These results provide further evidence to support the argument that tax affects the valuation of firms.     

Payout policy in Brazil: Dividends versus interest on equity

We examine the impact of tax burden on cash distribution using a sample of Brazilian firms, which are allowed by law to distribute cash to shareholders in two forms: dividends and tax-advantaged interest on equity. The Brazilian institutional setting is superior to those used in prior studies that examine the choice between dividends and capital gains because, in some cases, dividends provide advantages that outweigh their negative tax consequences, leading firms to rationally choose payout policies that are not optimal when viewed only from the perspective of taxes. We find that taxes are a primary determinant of Brazilian firms’ payout policy decisions, as profitability and payout ratios (nonequity tax shields) are positively (negatively) related to the likelihood that a firm pays interest on equity. However, many firms continue to pay dividends despite the tax advantages of interest on equity payments. Abnormal returns around payout policy announcements suggest that these firms are, at least in part, catering to investor demand.     

WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT STOCK REPURCHASES?

Stock repurchases by U.S. companies experienced a remarkable surge in the 1980s and ‘90s. Indeed, in 1998, the total value of all stock repurchased by U.S. companies exceeded for the first time the total amount paid out as cash dividends. And the U.S. repurchase movement has gone global in the past few years, spreading not only to Canada and the U.K., but also to countries like Japan and Germany, where such transactions were prohibited until recently. Why are companies buying back their stock in such amounts? After dismissing the popular argument that stock repurchases boost earnings per share, the authors argue that repurchases serve to add value in two main ways: (1) they provide managers with a tax‐efficient means of returning excess capital to shareholders and (2) they allow managers to “signal” to investors their view that the firm is undervalued. Returning excess capital is value‐adding for two reasons: First, it helps prevent companies from pursuing growth and size at the expense of profitability and value. Second, by returning capital to investors, repurchases (like dividends) play the critically important economic function of allowing investors to channel their investment from mature or declining sectors of the economy to more promising ones. But if stock repurchases and dividends serve the same basic economic function, why are repurchases growing more rapidly? Part of the explanation is that, because repurchases are taxed as capital gains and dividends as ordinary income, repurchases are a more tax‐efficient way of distributing excess capital. But perhaps even more important than their tax treatment is the flexibility that (at least) open market repurchases provide corporate managers‐flexibility to make small adjustments in capital structure, to exploit (or correct) perceived undervaluation of the firm's shares, and possibly even to increase the liquidity of the stock, which could be particularly valuable in bear markets. For U.S. regulators, the growth in open market stock repurchases raises some interesting issues. Perhaps most important, companies are not required to (and rarely do) furnish their investors with details about a given program's structure, execution method, number of shares repurchased, or even its duration. Policy regulators (and corporate executives as well) should consider some of the benefits provided by other systems, notably Canada's, which provide greater transparency and more guidelines for the repurchase process.     

Valuation with share repurchases and personal taxes

We derive a consistent valuation approach that integrates the interdependent effects of cash dividends, share repurchases and active debt management while considering personal taxes. The valuation approach is based on the assumption that a predetermined proportion of the flow to equity is used for share repurchases instead of cash dividends. Additionally, we examine the effects of share repurchases on the cost of equity by deriving appropriate adjustment formulae. Furthermore, we run simulations to investigate the valuation differences caused by the distribution of excess cash via cash dividends or share repurchases. The results show that share repurchases have a significant positive effect on equity market value.     

Tax treatment of dividends and capital gains and the dividend decision under dual income tax

The paper analyses efficiency aspects of a dual income tax system with a higher tax on capital gains than dividends. It argues that apart from the distortions to investments claimed in earlier literature, the system puts even more emphasis in creating incentives for entrepreneurs to participate in tax planning. The paper suggests that the owner of a closely held company can avoid all personal taxes on entrepreneurial income by two tax-planning strategies. The first is the avoidance of distributions, which would be taxed at the tax rate on labour income. These funds would instead be invested in the financial markets. The second strategy is a distribute and call-back policy, converting retained profits into new equity capital. Interestingly, the outcome is that investment in real capital is not distorted in the long-run equilibrium. Empirical evidence using microdata is also provided.      

Do Personal Taxes Destroy Tax Shields? A Critique to Miller’s (1977) Proposal

We discuss the relevance of personal taxes on tax shields. Interest and taxes are the basis for defining an optimal capital structure. When personal taxes are greater than or equal to TS, an optimal capital structure does not exist.

We suggest that the approach proposed by Miller (1977) might understate the effect of personal taxes in the net TS and/or its associated net value. We consider the irrelevance of personal taxes on interest received by debtholders on the value of TS earned by the firm on interest paid. We conclude that Miller’s approach might be wrong and has some inconsistencies.     

Controlling Shareholders’ Incentive and Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Natural Experiment in China

The split share structure reform removes a significant market friction in China's capital market by allowing previously non‐tradable shares to be freely tradable at market prices. Such a reform reduces the agency conflict between controlling shareholders and minority shareholders as the former now care more about stock prices. We find that state‐owned firms, but not non‐state‐owned firms, significantly increased their tax avoidance activities after the reform. We attribute this differential effect to the dual role of the government as state‐owned firms’ controlling shareholder as well as the tax claimant. Further, this effect is more pronounced for state‐owned firms that are more likely to be influenced by the government prior to the reform. Finally, the reform reinforces a positive association between tax avoidance and firm value. Overall, our study suggests that when controlling shareholders are more concerned about stock prices, state‐owned firms engage more in tax avoidance activities to enhance firm value.     

The Informativeness of Dividends and Associated Tax Credits

This paper investigates the informativeness of dividends and the associated tax credits with respect to earnings persistence. After confirming that dividend‐paying firms have more persistent earnings than non‐dividend‐paying firms, we show that the taxation status of the dividend is also important. Firms that pay dividends with a full tax credit attached have significantly more persistent earnings than firms that pay dividends which carry no associated tax credit. Consistent with higher levels of tax credits identifying more mature firms, those paying dividends with full tax credits have significantly less persistent losses than firms that pay dividends with only partial tax credits. Further, market pricing tests confirm that the incremental information in dividends and tax credits contributes to reductions in market mispricing of the persistence of earnings and earnings components. Our results are robust to alternative model specifications and controlling for dividend size and firm age.     

Share Valuation under Geometric Brownian Motion with a Poisson Imputation Tax Change

A share valuation model is developed on the basis of dividends following a geometric Brownian motion. An imputation tax system is chosen, although this can be collapsed into a classical system. The possibility of changes in tax rates and shareholder tax credits is introduced by means of a Poisson jump. Capital gains are assumed to be tax-free through either annual or other exemptions. Using Itô's Lemma, a new share valuation formula is derived. This is recast in terms of the cost of capital and the mean time to the fiscal shock.     

Stock Dividend Announcement Effects in an Imputation Tax Environment

A key question in asset pricing is the extent to which tax effects are passed through market prices or are capitalised in them. New Zealand stock dividends provide a useful window into this debate because of (1) the existence of both taxable and non-taxable stock dividends, and (2) the particular form of imputation tax system which allows the full pass through of corporate taxes to the investor on the proportion of profits which are distributed either as cash or taxable stock dividends. We present evidence that investors value future tax benefits associated with imputation tax credits.     

The accuracy of analysts' dividend forecasts around the world

We examine the link between the accuracy of consensus analysts' dividend forecasts, earnings predictability and dividend policies of firms in 39 countries from 1995 to 2004. For firms that display stronger dividend smoothing, as modeled by Lintner [Lintner, J., 1956. Distribution of incomes of corporations among dividends, retained earnings and taxes. American Economic Review 46, 97–113], there is a lower correlation between dividend and earnings forecast errors, with less of the earnings uncertainty being passed into dividend uncertainty. The link between earnings and dividend forecast errors is weaker in common-law, capital market-based countries and in countries with well-developed financial (debt and equity) markets, where firm managers have greater incentives to smooth dividends and to use dividends for signaling.     

Dividend Taxes and Share Prices: Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts

Prior empirical evidence regarding the impact of dividend taxes on firm valuation is mixed. This study avoids some of the complications encountered in previous empirical work by exploiting institutional characteristics of REITs, such as their limited discretion over dividend policy and the relative transparency of REIT assets. We regress the market value of equity on the market value of assets and tax basis, which creates tax deductions that lower future dividend taxes without affecting future pretax cash flow. We find that firm value is positively related to tax basis, suggesting that future dividend taxes are capitalized into share prices.     

Taxes and dividend clientele: Evidence from trading and ownership structure

Although dividend clientele have been studied over several decades, their existence remains controversial. We study the interaction of dividends and taxes by exploiting a unique dataset from Taiwan, where the capital gains tax is zero. We find strong evidence of a clientele effect. Agents subject to high rates of taxation on dividends tend to hold stocks with lower dividends and sell (buy) stocks that raise (lower) dividends. Agents in lower tax brackets behave in the opposite manner. After legalization of repurchases in 2000, firms with higher concentrations of more heavily taxed shareholders were more apt to begin repurchase programs.     

Changes to Income Trust Taxation in Canada: Investor Reaction and Dividend Clientele Theory

Abstract:  This paper explores the relationship between tax-induced dividend clientele theory and the recent changes to the taxation of income trusts in Canada. On October 31, 2006, the Canadian government announced the Tax Fairness Plan ( TFP ) calling for the elimination of the considerable tax advantage enjoyed by income trusts. Generally, distributions from income trusts are now taxed at rates comparable to those imposed on corporate dividends. We examine market reaction to the  TFP  to address three issues: first, whether the valuation effect of a dividend tax increase is consistent with the traditional or the new view of dividend taxation; secondly, whether the market reaction to tax increases has a differential impact on firm value that is related to the tax preferences of taxable, tax-exempt, and foreign investor tax clienteles; and thirdly, whether firms change their dividend policies in response to the preference of institutional investors (tax-based dividend policy effect) or whether institutional investors are sorting themselves across firms based on their dividend policies (investor sorting effect). Our results provide strong evidence as follows. First, the valuation effect in reaction to the  TFP  announcement is consistent with the traditional view of dividend taxation – i.e. that taxes on dividends reduce the net return to investors, increase the firm's cost of capital and lower the firm's ability to access capital markets, thereby discouraging investment and savings. Secondly, we saw that trusts with a larger percentage of their units held by tax-exempt, low-tax, and foreign investors had a higher decline in value when compared with trusts held mostly by ordinary taxable investors. These results support dividend tax clientele theory. Finally, we observed changes in institutional investor clienteles consistent with the investor sorting effect.     

Earnings Quality and Market Values of Indonesian Listed Firms

We find that earnings quality (EQ) is reliably negatively correlated with the market values of equity of firms listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (IDX). The financial reporting process produces earnings viewed as increasingly ‘incomplete’ for valuation purposes by the capital market despite moves towards high‐quality financial reporting standards (IFRS) during the sample period 1995–2015. Time‐series analyses reveal that EQ decreases rather than increases through time. The role of earnings in valuation is replaced by other attributes, most notably net dividends. Firms that pay out dividends are valued significantly higher, and firms that issue equity are valued lower. These results are robust regardless of other accounting, market and governance controls. Large and closely held firms are valued higher than smaller firms, consistent with some aspects of the political cost hypothesis. Shares with higher idiosyncratic risk are valued higher, consistent with option value, as are shares where the volume of shares traded is more volatile. Collectively, the results indicate that the mere adoption of high‐quality accounting standards (IFRS) and other nominal changes in capital market regulations do not automatically increase the quality of the financial reporting process.