增值税改革提示——研发机构采购设备的增值税优惠政策解读

允许增值税一般纳税人抵扣采购固定资产的进项税额,是2009年增值税转型中最主要的一项政策变化。包括研发机构等在内的外商投资企业,在原增值税法规下所享受的采购设备进口环节免税待遇也因此被取消。     

A growth oriented dual income tax

This paper proposes a growth oriented dual income tax by combining an allowance for corporate equity with a broadly defined flat tax on personal capital income. Revenue losses are compensated by an increase in the value added tax. The paper demonstrates the neutrality properties of the reform with respect to investment, firm financial decisions and organizational choice. Tax rates are chosen to prevent income shifting from labor to capital income. The reform decisively strengthens investment of domestically owned firms as well as home and foreign based multinationals and boosts savings. Simulations with a calibrated growth model for Switzerland indicate that the reform could add between 4 to 5 percent of GNP in the long-run, depending on the specific scenario. Given the slow nature of capital accumulation, it imposes considerable costs in the short-run. We consider a tax smoothing scenario to offset the intergenerationally redistributive effects. JEL Classification: D58, D92, E62, G32, H25     

The effects of system design alternatives on the acquisition of tax knowledge from a computerized tax decision aid

Accounting firms are intensifying their reliance on experiential learning, and experience increasingly involves the use of computerized decision aids [Messier, W. (1995) Research in and development of audit decision aids. In R. H. Ashton & A. H. Ashton, Judgment and decision making in accounting and auditing (pp. 207–230). New York: Cambridge University Press]. Accountants are expected to learn from automated decision aid use, because the aids are not always available when dealing with the aid's topical matter, and the knowledge inherent in the aid is needed for competency on broader issues. To facilitate knowledge acquisition and explain the logic of the underlying processes, computerized decision aids provide the rationale for their calculations in the form of online explanations. We study how the location of explanations in a computerized decision aid affects learning from its use. Specifically, this research extends the existing literature by using a framework for the study of learning from decision aid use and by using cognitive load theory to explain the failure of certain decision aid design alternatives to promote learning. We define learning as the acquisition of problem-type schemata, and an experiment is performed in which cognitive load is manipulated by the placement of explanations in a computerized tax decision aid to determine its effect on schema acquisition. Schemata are general knowledge structures used for basic comprehension, and cognitive load refers to the burden placed on working memory when acquiring schemata. We find that increased cognitive load produced by the location of explanations in a decision aid leads to reduced schema acquisition. Our results indicate that when explanations in a computerized decision aid are integrated into its problem solving steps, cognitive load is reduced and users acquire more knowledge from aid use. This appears to be an important design consideration for accounting firms buying or building computerized decision aids.     

Expected economic growth and investment in corporate tax planning

Review of Accounting Studies - This study investigates whether expected economic growth is associated with investment in corporate tax planning. We predict that higher expected economic growth...     

Engaging students in the politics of tax policy: The tax attitudes survey project

Among other influences, the tax system of a democratic government reflects the many and varied attitudes, perceptions and values of its citizens. Understanding the determinants of attitudes and perceptions about the tax system is fundamental to understanding the dynamics and limitations of a tax system created by political processes. This paper introduces the Tax Attitudes Survey Project (TASP), which gives undergraduate students a hands-on introduction to empirical research through which they can gain a rich understanding of some of the factors, such as taxpayer attitudes and perceptions, underlying the politics of current tax-policy debates.     

Endogenous choice on tax instruments in a tax competition model: unit tax versus ad valorem tax

This paper analyzes an endogenous choice problem with regard to tax instruments in a capital tax competition model. Using a symmetric and two-region model of tax competition, where each region is allowed to choose either a unit or an ad valorem tax, we show that selecting a unit tax as a policy instrument is the dominant strategy.     

The impact of tax on foreign direct investment: Empirical evidence and the implications for tax integration schemes

We estimate the impact of taxation on foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, using data on flows between seven countries for 1984 through 1989, and a sophisticated measure of the cost of capital. We find that the choice between domestic investment and total outward FDI is not significantly affected by taxation but that taxation does affect the location of outward FDI. These results are used to examine the impact of tax integration systems. Giving a tax credit to foreign shareholders may induce a large increase in inward FDI from exemption countries but not from partial-credit countries. For the United States, the total effect would be small.     

厦门市电子缴税信息系统的设计和改进思路

长期以来,税款缴库的方法是由纳税人凭税务机关确认的税款缴款书,通过银行转账等方式将税款缴入国库。这种缴库方式手续繁杂,效率不高,税务机关难以及时掌握税款的入库情况。为改革税款缴库方式,提高税款征收征管水平,降低税收征管成本,加快资金周转,改善投资环境,厦门市政府提出了建设电子缴税信息系统工程的设想。从2003年3月27日起,人民银行厦门市中心支行牵头财政、国税、地税等相关部门,用三个月的时间,完成了电子缴税信息系统的方案设计、技术开发、系统测试和推广实施工作,确保了2003年7月1日厦门市电子缴税信息系统正式投入运行,取…     

Overconfidence and tax avoidance: The role of CEO and CFO interaction

We investigate how overconfident CEOs and CFOs may interact to influence firms’ tax avoidance. We adopt an equity measure to capture overconfident CEOs and CFOs and utilize multiple measures to identify companies’ tax-avoidance activities. We document that CFOs, as CEOs’ business partners, play an important role in facilitating and executing overconfident CEOs’ decisions in regard to tax avoidance. Specifically, we find that companies are more likely to engage in tax-avoidance activities when they have both overconfident CEOs and overconfident CFOs, compared with companies that have other combinations of CEO/CFO overconfidence (e.g., an overconfident CEO with a non-overconfident CFO), which is consistent with the False Consensus Effect Theory. Our study helps investors, regulators, and policymakers understand companies’ decision-making processes with regard to tax avoidance.     

The Croatian profit tax: an ACE in practice

This paper discusses the experience of Croatia in applying, from 1994 to the beginning of 2001, a profit tax that was charged only on equity income in excess of an imputed normal return ‐ and was thus, in essence, an ‘Allowance for Corporate Equity’ (ACE) scheme of the kind advocated by the IFS Capital Taxes Group and others. The computation of taxable profit under this system is summarised, and the theoretical attractions of the system are described. The paper then discusses a variety of criticisms that were made of the system in Croatia, including an alleged bias in favour of capital‐intensive enterprises (and, in particular, large State‐owned enterprises with overvalued assets), international complications, the complexity of the computations of taxable profit, the possibility that the rate of protective interest was set at an inappropriate level, and excessive revenue cost.     

The incentives for tax planning

We use a proprietary data set with detailed executive compensation information to examine the relationship between the incentives of the tax director and GAAP and cash effective tax rates, the book-tax gap, and measures of tax aggressiveness. We find that the incentive compensation of the tax director exhibits a strong negative relationship with the GAAP effective tax rate, but little relationship with the other tax attributes. We interpret these results as indicating that tax directors are provided with incentives to reduce the level of tax expense reported in the financial statements.     

The Norwegian shareholder tax reconsidered

S?rensen (Int. Tax Public Finance 12(6):777–801, 2005) gives an in-depth account of the new Norwegian Shareholder Tax, which allows the shareholders a deduction for an imputed risk-free rate of return. S?rensen’s positive evaluation appears as reasonable for a closed economy where the deduction for the imputed return is capitalized into the market prices of corporate shares. We show that in a small open economy where no capitalization occurs, the Norwegian shareholder tax is likely to leave the distortions caused by the corporate income tax unaffected, and to add new distortions to shareholders’ portfolio decisions.     

Non-Gaussian diversification: When size matters

Classical portfolio theory informs investors that they should have a large number of assets in their portfolios in order to diversify risk. We show that the non-Gaussian features of stock return distribution may not allow for this risk protection in times of crisis. Moreover, we demonstrate empirically that, if investors are risk-averse and consider higher order moments, they have numerous incentives not to diversify their portfolios fully. This is caused by the evolution of both large losses and asymmetry of returns when the numbers of assets in a portfolio change.     

Assessing professional ethics in tax: A case on uncertain tax positions

We develop and present an ethics case dealing with an uncertain tax position. The case can be used to assess professional ethics as part of an assurance-of-learning (AOL) plan as well as a component of a course grade. We present data on student performance on this case over a 5-year period. Students consider existing ethical frameworks to identify and frame the potential ethical “dilemmas” they might face in addressing whether to countenance a client’s suggested treatment and disclosure of an uncertain tax position. In addition, students evaluate the AICPA guidance and U.S. Treasury standards on taking and reporting uncertain tax positions in the tax return and the FASB and PCAOB standards on reporting and auditing uncertain tax positions in the financial statements. The case allows faculty to assess students’ ability to frame potential ethical dilemmas when clients engage in aggressive tax behavior, to recognize with whom and with what professional reference documents they should consult when an uncertain tax position arises, and to choose among alternative actions when faced with client/preparer conflicts.     

Size matters: The impact of financial liberalization on individual firms

We attempt to answer the following questions: What are the revaluation effects and the impact on performance, volatility, and return correlation from stock market liberalization in emerging markets? These questions have been studied extensively at the market level but not at the firm level. Our results show significantly different impact of stock market liberalization across firms. Large firms tend to exhibit large revaluation effects, insignificant change in performance, large declines in volatility, and insignificant change in correlation from liberalization. Small firms show small revaluation effects, improved performance, smaller decline in volatility and decreases in correlation after liberalization.     

The investment tax credit in capital replacement: A simulation

Congressional intent in passing various versions of the investment tax credit has been to stimulate increased investment in capital goods. This paper examines the impact of ITC on the replacement component of investment from the standpoint of the individual firm. The simulations run assume that the firm incorporates correctly all tax effects, to arrive at the optimal replacement decision. The results imply that from the micro standpoint, the law does not necessarily generate the intended behavior. As implications for policy, further research in this area should focus on individual firm action rather than on macro models.     

The roles of book‐tax conformity and tax enforcement in regulating tax reporting behaviour following International Financial Reporting Standards adoption

This study investigates whether increasing the level of tax enforcement can potentially offset the primary cost of a reduction in the level of book‐tax conformity (BTC) following International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) adoption – increased tax avoidance. We find that after the decrease in BTC and the concomitant increase in tax enforcement that followed IFRS adoption in Israel, tax avoidance declined significantly. Our results imply that one of the primary costs of reducing BTC can be avoided. Moreover, the results suggest that rather than one strict regulatory approach to deal with reporting manipulations, a combination of trust and control is more effective and less radical.