Tax evasion is one of the world's societal problems, which annually contributes to distorted competition when large tax amounts disappear from welfares. High-income earners and companies have managed to minimize tax expenditures through systematic applications, which has been revealed recently by elements such as Panama Papers, Luxleaks and Swissleaks. Previous studies have highlighted a problem that clear boundaries between tax planning and tax evasion do not exist. Whether or not which tax techniques and methods that are compatible with the law has been expressed as a difficulty in understanding the profession of accountants but also in professions such as tax advisers and accounting consultants. The purpose of the study was to investigate how auditors handle the issues regarding the gray zones between tax planning and tax evasion. The study's intention was to review previous legal cases and companies' audit reports to see how auditors have acted and how the court assessed complex legal cases, which were then supplemented with an interview study. This because when reviewing the cases, attention was drawn to the results that led us to interviews in order to take part in the auditor's perspective on the matter. The study was based on a qualitative research method where the results showed that auditors should consult more complex tax procedures with other auditors and tax lawyers to avoid legal consequences. The results further showed how important it is for auditors to keep constantly updated by legislation and regulations as these tend to change over time. The result also showed that auditors should act restrictively and judiciously and have a strict attitude in their working methods for minimizing undesirable situations where irregularities can occur. Auditors must also have a well-designed audit plan to avoid the risk of material errors slipping through the audit.

This master thesis attempts to contribute to the existing earnings management literature by examining whether tax avoidance incentives affect opportunistic accounting choices in distress conditions. To address this issue, it investigates 2668 companies in the quarters around breach of debt covenant spanning from 1996 to 2006. This allows to analyze two distress scenarios: first, whether the companies having the opportunity to minimize tax expenses and thus improve their financial stability, would deliberately switch from engaging in aggressive upwards real earnings management to tax considerations to mitigate the potential consequences of technical default; second, whether the companies facing increased lender's scrutiny after subsequent violation are compelled to switch by the creditor. The results indicate that tax considerations do not deter misreporting in the quarters around debt covenant violation. This thesis further provides evidence against the debt covenant hypothesis: the companies in the analyzed sample engaged in negative revenue manipulation in the quarters of new breach of debt covenant and in the quarters in which the firms remained in violation. In additional analysis, it was found that the above relationship is more prominent for the companies exhibiting poor financial performance.

This thesis investigates if the tax rate on dividend income has a significant effect on private consumption expenditure. This is done through a panel study on 36 OECD countries during the period 2000-2019. Regressions using differenced data and several control variables are used. The results are to some extent in line with previous empirical work studying the effects of tax changes on consumption. The results indicate that the taxation of capital income in the form of the overall tax rate on dividend income does not have a significant effect on private consumption expenditure. The theoretical mechanism deemed most likely to be in effect is tax planning since contradictory results are obtained regarding the effects of other tax rates in the form of taxes on labour income and VAT on private consumption expenditure.

Выпускная квалификационная работа (магистерская диссертация) посвящена исследованию налогового планирования и налоговой оптимизации на предприятии. Предметом исследования выступают совокупность экономических отношений, направленных на деятельность предприятия по налоговому планированию и налоговой оптимизации. Основной целью магистерской диссертации является разработка теоретических положений по налоговому планированию и практических рекомендаций по проблеме налогового планирования и налоговой оптимизации. / Tax planning for many became one more source of financing and also a factor, increasing competitiveness of the produced goods and services. Heads are interested more in a tax planning, in tax minimization by lawful or illegal methods, as economy on tax payments in fact it is a reserve for increase in profit and consequently, increases in dividends. In these conditions, the importance tax planning increases every day.

There are currently two methods states generally use to tax the income of multistate multi-corporate businesses. One is separate accounting, and the other is the unitary method. Virginia currently uses separate accounting to tax such income. Under separate accounting businesses have greater ability to avoid state income tax with (1) their choice of corporate organization (branches or affiliates) and filing methods, and (2) transfer price manipulations. The objectives of the research were to (1) measure the incentive provided multistate businesses to utilize corporate organization and filing methods as a tax planning tool, and (2) measure the extent to which current Virginia law helps multistate businesses to avoid tax in Virginia and other states. Computer models were developed to compute the total state tax liability of a hypothetical representative multistate business which operated in Virginia and two other states. The models were utilized to compute the Virginia and total state tax for the business in 1,053 different situations. To measure the incentive provided multistate businesses to utilize corporate organization and filing methods as a tax planning tool, a comparison was made of the state tax liability of a business which made elections that minimized its tax with the tax liability of a similar business which made elections that maximized its tax. The tax avoidable under current Virginia law with corporate organization and filing method planning was measured by comparing the business's minimized tax under current law with its minimized tax under the assumption that Virginia utilized the unitary method. The effectiveness of current Virginia law in limiting the ability of businesses to use transfer price manipulations to reduce their state tax liabilities was measured by comparing the effects of a given transfer price manipulation between current law and the unitary method. The results of the analyses show that businesses have a clear incentive to utilize corporate organization and filing method planning, and that current Virginia law makes a substantial contribution to the ability of businesses to avoid state income tax. / Ph. D.

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This thesis analyzes the concept of corporate residence, with particular reference to the law in the UK and Canada. It explores why corporate residence is relevant in tax policy, how corporate residence is understood in law, and how revenue authorities respond to the use and alleged 'abuse' of residence rules. Part I argues that the residence of taxpayers generally (individual or corporate) remains a relevant factor in international tax design, that taxation of corporations on the basis of residence has some justification, but that there is a disjunction between meaningful residence-based taxation and current definitions of corporate residence in domestic law and tax treaties. The formulations of residence based on incorporation, central management and control, and place of effective management, particularly as applied to multinational enterprises, are considered and are found to be deficient. Part II critically analyzes the major policy responses of the UK and Canadian governments to the exploitation of corporate residence. It argues that key legislative and administrative responses to international tax avoidance activities, for both outbound and inbound investment, are purportedly based on the acceptance of formal corporate residence yet undermine that concept in an effort to impose tax or refuse treaty relief based on where economic interests actually exist. The responses considered are the application of controlled foreign companies legislation to offshore subsidiaries, the invocation of treaty anti-abuse rules with respect to offshore intermediaries, and the use of overarching general anti-avoidance measures to challenge varied structures that rely on offshore entities. These haphazard anti-avoidance rules are overlaid with revenue authorities' indignation at the motivations that underlie many corporate relocations. It is argued that a more coherent approach would be to focus on the objective reality or unreality of corporate establishment, by reformulating corporate residence in domestic law and tax treaties.

Tax avoidance is a key international tax issue. Combating tax avoidance has been placed high on the agenda by the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and other tax authorities in the world. This research report will examine how the judgments of certain South African cases would have been different if the anti-avoidance provisions in sections 80A to 80L were applied instead of those in section 103(1).

Este estudo investiga se o planejamento tributário efetuado pelas companhias abertas é uma prática de gestão que gera valor para o acionista. Embora se possa conjeturar que o aumento de lucros proporcionado pela economia de tributos contribua para elevar o valor da firma, uma avaliação incompleta de todos os custos do planejamento tributário possibilita o surgimento de quadros em que os custos superam os benefícios, reduzindo o retorno para os acionistas e afetando negativamente o valor da firma. Estudos desta questão efetuados em outros países apresentaram resultados variados. Para a verificação empírica, utilizou-se de análise de dados em painel, realizada sobre uma amostra de 1.432 observações do tipo empresa-ano, composta por 310 companhias abertas negociadas em bolsa nos anos de 2007 a 2012. O valor da firma foi estimado pelo Q de Tobin e o planejamento tributário por duas métricas distintas, alternadamente: Book-Tax Differences, controlada por accruals, e total de tributos distribuídos na DVA, ambas padronizadas pelo ativo. Visando obter resultados robustos, a amostra foi estratificada em função da agressividade histórica das firmas quanto ao planejamento tributário. Os resultados mostram que existe uma relação negativa entre planejamento tributário e valor da firma no estrato das firmas mais agressivas, não tendo havido convergência de evidências no estrato das firmas menos agressivas. Em função das peculiaridades do mercado de capitais brasileiro, foram analisados também os efeitos da governança corporativa, da gestão familiar e da concentração acionária sobre a relação estudada. Os resultados mostram que estes fatores não conseguem conter a diminuição de valor ocorrida no estrato das firmas agressivas. A contribuição desta pesquisa para a literatura consiste na demonstração dos efeitos que os custos de agência exercem sobre as avaliações dos investidores no mercado de capitais e na evidenciação da relação negativa entre planejamento tributário e valor da firma, detectada no conjunto das firmas agressivas, o que pode orientar a conduta dos investidores, analistas de mercado e gestores. / This study investigates whether tax planning activities conducted by publicly traded firms represent a management practice that creates shareholder value. While one might say, at first, that the increase in profits provided by the tax savings contributes to raise the value of the firm, an incomplete assessment of all the costs of tax planning facilitates the emergence of scenarios in which the costs outweigh the benefits, reducing the return to shareholders and adversely affecting the firm value. Studies of this issue in other countries found mixed evidence. For the empirical verification, analysis of panel data was conducted on a sample of 1,432 firm-year observations, composed of 310 publicly traded firms in years 2007 to 2012. Firm value was estimated by Tobin\'s Q and tax planning was proxied by two distinct metrics, alternately: Book-Tax Differences, controlled by total accruals, and total taxes distributed in Value Added Statement, both scaled by total assets. In order to obtain more robust results, the sample was stratified according to historical aggressiveness of the firms\' tax planning. The results show that there is a negative relationship between tax planning and firm value in the stratum of the most aggressive firms. Evidence didn\'t converge for the stratum of less aggressive firms. Due to the peculiarities of the Brazilian capital markets, the effects of corporate governance, ownership concentration and family management over the investigated relationship were also analyzed. The results show that these factors can not contain the value destruction that occurs in the stratum of the aggressive firms. The contribution of this research to the literature consists in demonstrating the effects that agency costs have on firm evaluations made by investors in the Brazilian capital markets and the disclosure of the negative relationship between tax planning and firm value found in the group of the aggressive firms, which can guide the behavior of investors, market analysts and managers.

[pt] Os reais efeitos da tributação sobre a economia só podem ser entendidos se levada em conta a resposta dos agentes econômicos a essa tributação. Esta dissertação trata de dois possíveis tipos de resposta das firmas ao serem taxadas: mudança da forma de organização e de localização. A primeira parte da dissertação mostra como a estrutura de taxação da renda no Brasil incentiva profissionais liberais a se organizarem como pessoa jurídica. A análise empírica, feita com microdados da ECINF, indica que a decisão desses profissionais de constituir pessoa jurídica está fortemente relacionada a parâmetros tributários. A segunda parte da dissertação estuda o caso de dois municípios na região metropolitana de São Paulo que reduziram drasticamente as alíquotas de ISS durante a década de 90, participando de uma espécie de guerra fiscal a nível municipal. Analisando dados da RAIS de 1994 a 2000 encontramos evidências de que esse corte na alíquota atraiu um número significativo de firmas para os dois municípios. Entretanto, o número de empregos criados nos setores de serviços não acompanhou o expressivo aumento no número de firmas. Nos dois casos estudados, há evidências de que grande parte das firmas muda de comportamento com o objetivo principal de diminuir o montante de imposto devido; estas mudanças sendo, na realidade, mecanismos de planejamento tributário. / [en] The real impact of taxes on the economy can only be assessed when we consider the behavioral responses of economic agents due to these taxes. Two kinds of responses are studied in this thesis: changes in organizational form and location choices. The first part of this study shows how income taxation in Brazil gives incentives to some classes of taxpayers to incorporate in order to reduce their tax burden. Microdata on these taxpayers indicate that the probability of incorporation is strongly related to tax rules. The second part of the study uses the case of two cities engaged in fiscal competition in order to measure the sensitivity of firm s location choices to municipal tax rates. Firm data show that these two cities, located in the greater São Paulo area, were able to attract a large number of firms to their territory. However, data from firms surveys indicate that the number of jobs did not grow accordingly. In both cases studied, there are evidences that firms change their behaviour with the main objective of avoiding taxes.