Cette thèse consiste en trois essais sur les réponses des individus aux systèmes fiscaux et à la taxation. Le premier chapitre, "Partial Unemployment Insurance and Hour Decisions", mesure l'impact des incitations contenues dans le programme d'activité réduite. L'activité réduite (AR) permet aux chômeurs qui travaillent de garder leurs allocations chômage sous conditions. Nous exploitons comme quasi-expérimentation la réforme de 2006 en France, qui consiste en une baisse de 20% du seuil horaire. La réforme a significativement augmenté la probabilité conditionnelle de choisir une AR peu intensive. Le second chapitre, "Potential Drivers of Undeclared Work", explore les déterminants potentiels de l'activité dissimulée en France et en Europe. Cette étude utilise une enquête pilote examinant les comportements d'activité dissimulée des ménages en France (EPMF). Nos résultats montrent que l'hétérogénéité individuelle (la perception de l'entourage, les sanctions et les valeurs civiques) sont positivement corrélées à l'activité dissimulée. A l'aide d'une enquête semblable, nous obtenons des résultats comparables au niveau européen. Le troisième chapitre, "Top-income tax avoidance and preferences for redistribution: Evidence from the Panama Papers" explique l'impact des scandales sur les préférences pour la redistribution. Les Panama Papers sont utilisés comme quasi-expérimentation: ce scandale exogène a mis en lumière les comportements d'optimisation fiscale des ménages. Après le scandale, les individus sont plus en faveur des politiques de redistribution: les scandales financiers encouragent une mise à jour de la perception des inégalités. / This dissertation gathers three essays on behavioral responses to fiscal systems and benefits.The first chapter, ``Partial Unemployment Insurance and Hour Decisions", measures how financial incentives in Partial Unemployment Insurance (PUI) programs affect job uptake. PUI programs allow jobseekers to keep their benefits when working if the job abides by eligibility conditions. We exploit as a quasi-experiment the 2006 French PUI reform consisting in a decrease in the hour threshold. The main finding is that the reform significantly increased the conditional probability to take up a PUI job below the new hour threshold. A narrowed benefit availability contributes to a decline in worked hours for PUI claimants.The second chapter, ``Potential Drivers of Undeclared Work", investigates undeclared work in France and Europe. This study exploits a unique pilot survey on supply and demand of households. We find that the social circle, autoestimated risk and sanctions and civic values are strongly correlated with undeclared work. Individual heterogeneity adds up but is not substitutable to standard socio-demographic variables. Using the Eurobarometer survey, we find comparable estimates at the European level.The third chapter, ``Top income tax evasion and redistribution preferences: Evidence from the Panama Papers" attempts to explain changes in perceived inequality after worldwide fiscal scandals. I exploit as an exogeneous shock the 2016 Panama Papers scandal revealing top-income households' tax avoidance. I find that, post-scandal, stated preferences for redistribution strongly increases. Using additional data, I find consistent results at the European level.

Cette thèse est composée de trois chapitres qui analysent trois effets de la philanthropie d'entreprise: (1) les stratégies fiscales des entreprises, (2) la divulgation des entreprises en matière de philanthropie d'entreprise et (3) la perception des auditeurs de l’information financière des entreprises. Le premier chapitre examine la cohérence des décisions des entreprises en ce qui concerne deux activités: la philanthropie d’entreprise et les stratégies d’évitement fiscal. Cette première étude examine ainsi la cohérence des entreprises en ce qui concerne leurs décisions philanthropiques et leurs différentes stratégies fiscales. J’étudie en particulier deux formes de stratégie d’évitement fiscal qui diffèrent dans leur degré de visibilité: une stratégie non conforme dite « agressive » et une stratégie conforme. Mes résultats démontrent que les entreprises qui s'engagent dans la philanthropie se comportent de manière cohérente dans leurs stratégies fiscales. De plus, je mets en relief le fait que les entreprises qui s’engagent dans la philanthropie sont susceptibles d'utiliser une politique d'évitement fiscal « conforme » plutôt qu’une politique « agressive » qui est plus visible. Ce résultat suggère ainsi que les entreprises philanthropique sont certes intéressées par des réductions fiscales mais ne veulent pas être perçus comme tels afin d'afficher un comportement cohérent, essentiel au maintien de leur réputation. La deuxième partie de cette étude analyse la valorisation des entreprises au comportement incohérent, c'est-à-dire celles qui s'engagent à la fois dans la philanthropie d'entreprise et dans une politique d’évitement fiscal « agressive ». Je trouve que l’incohérence du comportement social des entreprises réduit la valeur de l'entreprise. Le deuxième chapitre de cette thèse examine les conséquences d'un événement réglementaire au Royaume-Uni – le Companies Act 2006 - qui représente le passage d’un régime obligatoire à un régime volontaire concernant la divulgation de la philanthropie d'entreprise (montants et objectifs des dons de bienfaisance). Ce chapitre examine l'impact du changement réglementaire sur le niveau de divulgation des sociétés et le montant de leurs dons. J'évalue la qualité de l'information sur la philanthropie d'entreprise en extrayant des notes des rapports annuels des entreprises à l’aide d’un indice de divulgation que j'ai développé dans le cadre de cette étude. Mes résultats montrent que les entreprises divulguent moins d'informations sur leurs dons et diminuent les montants de leurs dons à la suite du changement réglementaire. Ce résultat suggère que les entreprises ne s'engagent pas de façon crédible sur la communication de leur philanthropie, malgré y avoir été initiées dans le cadre du régime de divulgation obligatoire. En outre, le changement de régime de divulgation affecte le secteur sans but lucratif qui pourrait souffrir d'une réduction des dons des entreprises. Le dernier chapitre de cette thèse analyse les dons d’entreprise communs aux cabinets d’audit et à leurs clients, c’est à dire, les dons faits aux mêmes organismes de charité. Les entreprises, y compris les cabinets d'audit, versent des dons de manière significative de manière directe ou via leurs fondations d'entreprise. Cette étude part du postulat que les dons communs aux cabinets d’audit et à leurs clients permettent de saisir la notion de capital social des entreprises. Mes principales analyses indiquent que lorsque les clients et leurs cabinets d’audit font des dons aux mêmes organismes de charité, les honoraires et la qualité d’audit sont plus élevés. Les auditeurs font plus d'efforts et exercent leur professionnalisme dans l'exécution de l’audit des clients qui partagent les mêmes valeurs et soutiennent les mêmes causes afin notamment de protéger leurs réseaux. En outre, les dons communs entre cabinets d’audit et clients impliquent une communication efficace, essentielle à la qualité de l'audit. / This dissertation consists of three stand-alone papers that investigate three consequences of corporate philanthropy, namely: (1) firms’ tax strategies, (2) firms’ reporting with regard to corporate philanthropy, and (3) the perceptions of firms’ financial reporting quality by an important gatekeeper: the auditor. The first chapter examines whether firms’ choices of prosocial activities reflect apparent consistency by studying the relation between corporate philanthropy and tax avoidance, and whether investors reward this consistency. I investigate two forms of tax strategies that differ in their degree of transparency: nonconforming tax avoidance (or tax aggressiveness) and conforming tax avoidance (Badertscher, et al., 2017). I find that corporate philanthropy is negatively related to nonconforming tax avoidance and positively related to conforming tax avoidance. This evidence suggests that philanthropic firms want to avoid paying taxes but do not want to be perceived as “tax avoiders” in order to display a consistent behavior. Next, I present evidence that the market value of inconsistent firms, i.e., those engaging simultaneously in corporate philanthropy and tax avoidance, is lower. Investors view firms’ inconsistency between corporate philanthropy and tax avoidance as a costly strategy that reduces firm value. Overall, the first chapter provides evidence on the tax implications of corporate philanthropy. The second chapter examines firm specific consequences of a regulatory event - the Companies Act 2006 - which represents a regime shift from mandatory to voluntary disclosure on corporate philanthropy (i.e., amounts and purposes of charitable donations) that affected UK firms in 2013. This chapter investigates whether and how the regulatory shift had an effect on corporate disclosure level and levels of CCDs. I assess the quality of the disclosure on corporate philanthropy by extracting scores from UK firms’ annual reports using a disclosure index that I developed. I find that firms disclose less information on their 2 CCDs and decrease their levels of CCDs following the mandatory-to-voluntary disclosure shift. This result indicates that firms do not credibly commit to their CSR-related disclosure, even though they were already initiated to the disclosure of their donations under the mandatory disclosure regime. Moreover, the disclosure shift has implications for the nonprofit sector that could be damaged through the reduction of firms’ donations. Overall, the second chapter provides evidence on the social reporting implications of corporate philanthropy. The third chapter of my dissertation analyzes overlaps between auditors and clients’ CCDs to the same nonprofit organizations. Firms, including the audit firms invest significantly in CCDs through direct giving or corporate foundations. This chapter examines the association between audit fees and audit quality (i.e., restatements and discretionary accruals) and overlaps in CCDs between auditors and clients. I posit that overlaps of auditors’ and clients’ donations capture social capital at the firm-level in an audit setting. In an exploratory analysis of the determinants of these overlaps, I find that firms with a corporate charitable foundation, a higher firm value or a bigger board size are more likely to overlap their CCDs. My main findings document that when clients and their audit firms make CCDs to the same nonprofits, audit fees and audit quality are higher. This suggests that (1) auditors exert more efforts and exercise their professional care in the performance of the audit with clients who share the same charitable values in order to protect their networks, and (2) charitable alignment between audit- and client-firms imply an effective communication, critical to the audit quality. Overall, the third chapter provides evidence on the financial reporting implications of corporate philanthropy.

O presente estudo busca analisar a influência do princípio da boa-fé objetiva nos limites do planejamento tributário, mormente no que se refere à possibilidade de desconsideração de atos e negócios jurídicos lícitos realizados pelos contribuintes com o objetivo de minorar a carga tributária. Sobre o tema, parte da doutrina nacional e da jurisprudência administrativa propõe uma releitura da autonomia da vontade, de modo que seriam ilegítimos os planejamentos tributários praticados com abuso do direito, neste compreendido suas diversas espécies, como abuso de formas, falta de propósito negociai, fraude à lei e demais patologias do negócio jurídico. A partir dessa constatação, a boa-fé assume papel de relevo, porquanto serve como elemento conformador da licitude do modo de exercício dos direitos subjetivos e formativos, atuando como verdadeiro fundamento de validade do abuso do direito. Assim, a compreensão dos limites do que pode ser considerado como lícito ou ilícito em matéria de planejamento tributário passa pela definição do conteúdo e da operatividade da boafé no Direito Tributário. Nessa tarefa, no entanto, a doutrina e a jurisprudência, de um modo geral, acabam por realizar uma transposição acrítica do conteúdo da boa-fé objetiva nas relações de Direito Privado, esquecendo-se que o standard de conduta exigido pela boa-fé é influenciado pelas demais normas de um determinado ramo normativo. No caso, as peculiaridades do Direito Tributário, tais como a força com que se liga aos princípios da segurança jurídica e da legalidade e a responsabilidade imposta à Administração Pública decorrente da presunção de legitimidade de seus atos, fazem com que a boa-fé objetiva assuma papel muito mais protetivo do contribuinte. Dessa forma, em que pese a boa-fé objetiva imponha limites ao exercício do direito do contribuinte de planejar suas atividades, esse limite não alcança a possibilidade reconhecer como ilícitos os atos e negócios jurídicos praticados pelos contribuintes no sentido de elidir a norma tributária. / The present study seeks to analyze the influence of the principie of objective good faith in the limits of tax planning, especially in relation to the possibility of disregarding lícít legal acts and business carríed out by taxpayers in order to reduce the tax burden. On the subject, part of the national doctrine and administratíve jurisprudence proposes a rereading of the autonomy of will, so that would be illegitimate the tax planning practiced with abuse of right, in this understood its various species, such as abuse of forms, fraud on the law and other pathologies of the legal business. Based on this observation, good faith plays an important role, since it serves as a constítutíve element of the lawfulness of the way of exercising subjectíve and formatíve rights, actíng as a true basís for the validíty of abuse of right. Thus, the understanding of the limits of what can be considered licit or illícit in tax planning is defíned by the content and operability of good faíth in Tax Law. In this task, however, doctrine and jurisprudence, in a general way, end up performing an uncritical transpositíon of the content of good faith from Prívate Law relatíons, forgetting that the standard of conduct required by good faith ís influenced by the other norms of a certain normatíve area. In this case, the peculíarities of Tax Law, such as the strength with which it is linked to the principies of legal certainty and legality and the responsibility imposed on the Public Administration arisíng from the presumptíon of legitimacy of its acts, make good faith assume a taxpayer's much more protective role. Thus, even though good faith limits the exercise of the ríght of the taxpayer to plan its activities, this limit does not reach the possibility to recognize as illegal the acts and legal business practiced by the taxpayers in the sense of avoidíng the tax rule.

Internal control disclosures mandated by section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) are designed to provide information about a firm’s financial reporting quality and in doing so may offer information on firm-specific tax planning activities. Internal control weaknesses disclosed under SOX are frequently related to a firm’s tax function (Ge and McVay, 2005; Gleason, Pincus and Rego, 2010) and thus raise the question of whether or not these frequent problems affect corporate tax avoidance. In this thesis, I test hypotheses that tax-related disclosures, particularly those that contain company-level internal control weaknesses (ICWs), provide information with respect to long-run tax avoidance. Furthermore, I test hypotheses that the combination of internal control quality and aggressive tax avoidance aid in assessing shareholder returns. To conduct these tests, I collect and construct firm-level SOX disclosure data from 2004 to 2006 across 1,286 publicly-owned corporations. I begin with an empirical analysis of the association between tax avoidance and firm-level ICWs and generally find that the presence of tax ICWs and company-level tax ICWs constrain long-run tax avoidance. For firms with low cash constraints however, company-level tax ICWs appear to lead to an increase in tax avoidance. Nevertheless, subsequent analysis of monthly abnormal returns implies that the stock market reacts negatively to the disclosure of company-level tax ICWs, regardless of whether or not tax aggressiveness is also present. This thesis contributes to the literature by documenting the first evidence that internal control disclosures provide information regarding firm-level tax planning. Although the number of internal control weakness disclosures is decreasing over time, the availability of these SOX disclosures represents a previously unavailable opportunity to examine and further understand internal governance mechanisms within the firm and their influence on tax planning. In addition, this thesis further corroborates prior literature that argues for the importance of the pervasiveness of internal control weaknesses by showing that the pervasive, company-level tax internal control weaknesses are associated with tax avoidance and lower shareholder returns. Finally, my dissertation implies that the presence of tax internal control weaknesses constrains tax avoidance and thus a focus on improving internal controls could help improve the tax planning function. However, my firm-level analysis also implies that effective tax planning is a sustainable process and thus a firm and its stakeholders may require several periods before the full benefits of these improvements are realized.

Huvudregeln inom svensk skatterätt är att ränteutgifter ska dras av inom inkomstslaget nä- ringsverksamhet. För ett antal år sedan uppmärksammade Skatteverket ett förfarande där internationella koncernbolag utnyttjade den fria avdragsrätten i ett skatteplanerings hänse- ende. Höga vinster i svenska bolag flyttades genom höga räntor på interna lån till bolag i lågbeskattade länder. Efter ledande praxis visade det sig att möjligheten till att angripa för- farandet genom lag saknades och Skatteverkets kartläggning visade att ränteavdrag av skat- teplaneringsskäl utnyttjades i hög utsträckning, uppmärksammades behovet av lagstiftning på området. I syfte att förhindra förfarandet, som givits smeknamnet räntesnurror, infördes lagstiftning gällande ränteavdragsbegränsningar år 2009. Skatteverkets fortsatta kartläggningar tyder på att det trots införandet av lagstiftningen finns betydande möjligheter för bolag att undgå bolagsbeskattning i Sverige. Lagens ut- formning har oönskade effekter, den är oförutsebar och miljardtals kronor försvinner från den svenska skattebasen årligen. I mars 2012 lade finansdepartementet fram ett förslag till effektivare ränteavdragsbegränsningar. Syftet med denna uppsats är att analysera lagförsla- get i finansdepartementets nya promemoria gällande effektivare ränteavdragsbegränsningar utifrån ändamålet om att förhindra skatteplanering jämfört med dagens lagstiftning. Efter en granskning av förslaget och den kritik det bemött jämfört med dagens lagstiftning fram- kommer att förslaget bättre uppfyller statens mål om att förhindra skatteplanering. Ur ett bolagsperspektiv förefaller förslaget dock utöka oförutsebarheten och vara något väl om- fattande. Slutsatsen är att förslaget bättre uppfyller målet om att förhindra skatteplanering genom ränteavdrag men att det bör bearbetas för att inte missgynna näringslivet. / <img src="file:///page3image4536" /> The general principal within Swedish tax law is that interest expenses are deductible on in- come derived from business. A procedure, where international corporate groups abused the right of interest deduction in order to accomplish tax avoidance, was discovered a few years ago. High profits in Swedish companies were moved to companies in tax havens through high interest rates. After established practice showed that there lacked a possibility of preventing these procedures and the Swedish Tax authority discovered the extent of which they were used the need of extended regulations for interest deductions became clear. In order to prevent these procedures, new rules regarding interest deduction were laid down in law during year 2009. The tax authority’s researches showed that even though new regulations had been laid down there still existed a substantial possibility for companies to avoid tax in Sweden. The regulations today have an undesirable effect, are unpredictable and allow billions of kroner to disappear from the Swedish tax base each year. In March 2012 the ministry of finance presented a proposal for more effective regulations on interest deduction. The objective this thesis is to analyse the proposed regulations in comparison to current legislation in the light of preventing tax avoidance. After a review of the proposal and the criticism it has re- ceived, compared to the current legislation, it appears that the proposed regulations better can accomplish the states goal of preventing tax avoidance. However when the new regula- tions are seen through a company perspective they seem to be too extensive and increase unpredictability. The conclusion is nonetheless that the proposal better fulfils the goal of preventing tax avoidance through interest deduction, however it is in need of some changes in order to not disbenefit the industrial economy.

Internal control disclosures mandated by section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) are designed to provide information about a firm’s financial reporting quality and in doing so may offer information on firm-specific tax planning activities. Internal control weaknesses disclosed under SOX are frequently related to a firm’s tax function (Ge and McVay, 2005; Gleason, Pincus and Rego, 2010) and thus raise the question of whether or not these frequent problems affect corporate tax avoidance. In this thesis, I test hypotheses that tax-related disclosures, particularly those that contain company-level internal control weaknesses (ICWs), provide information with respect to long-run tax avoidance. Furthermore, I test hypotheses that the combination of internal control quality and aggressive tax avoidance aid in assessing shareholder returns. To conduct these tests, I collect and construct firm-level SOX disclosure data from 2004 to 2006 across 1,286 publicly-owned corporations. I begin with an empirical analysis of the association between tax avoidance and firm-level ICWs and generally find that the presence of tax ICWs and company-level tax ICWs constrain long-run tax avoidance. For firms with low cash constraints however, company-level tax ICWs appear to lead to an increase in tax avoidance. Nevertheless, subsequent analysis of monthly abnormal returns implies that the stock market reacts negatively to the disclosure of company-level tax ICWs, regardless of whether or not tax aggressiveness is also present. This thesis contributes to the literature by documenting the first evidence that internal control disclosures provide information regarding firm-level tax planning. Although the number of internal control weakness disclosures is decreasing over time, the availability of these SOX disclosures represents a previously unavailable opportunity to examine and further understand internal governance mechanisms within the firm and their influence on tax planning. In addition, this thesis further corroborates prior literature that argues for the importance of the pervasiveness of internal control weaknesses by showing that the pervasive, company-level tax internal control weaknesses are associated with tax avoidance and lower shareholder returns. Finally, my dissertation implies that the presence of tax internal control weaknesses constrains tax avoidance and thus a focus on improving internal controls could help improve the tax planning function. However, my firm-level analysis also implies that effective tax planning is a sustainable process and thus a firm and its stakeholders may require several periods before the full benefits of these improvements are realized.

This paper compares the general anti-avoidance rule of incometax law with the Civil Law doctrine of abuse of law (Rechtsmissbrauch, abusde droit) in eight jurisdictions: Germany, Croatia, New Zealand, Australia, France, the e uropean u nion, the u nited s tates and the United Kingdom. The paper addresses the statutory and judge-made general anti-avoidance rules in these jurisdictions and deals with the core concept of avoidance an on how these eight jurisdictions either frustrate avoidance or allow it. / Este artículo compara la norma anti-elusiva general de la ley del impuesto a la renta con la doctrina del abuso de derecho del Civil Law(Nt 1) (Rechtsmissbrauch, abus de droit) en ocho jurisdicciones: Alemania, Croacia, Nueva Zelanda, Australia, Francia, la Unión Europea, los Estados Unidos y el Reino Unido. El artículo se ocupa de las normas anti-elusivas generales legislativas y jurisprudenciales en estas jurisdicciones y aborda el concepto central de la elusión. El artículo se enfoca en transacciones que la mayoría reconocería como elusivas y en cómo estas ocho jurisdicciones frustran la elusión o la permiten.

O presente estudo busca analisar a influência do princípio da boa-fé objetiva nos limites do planejamento tributário, mormente no que se refere à possibilidade de desconsideração de atos e negócios jurídicos lícitos realizados pelos contribuintes com o objetivo de minorar a carga tributária. Sobre o tema, parte da doutrina nacional e da jurisprudência administrativa propõe uma releitura da autonomia da vontade, de modo que seriam ilegítimos os planejamentos tributários praticados com abuso do direito, neste compreendido suas diversas espécies, como abuso de formas, falta de propósito negociai, fraude à lei e demais patologias do negócio jurídico. A partir dessa constatação, a boa-fé assume papel de relevo, porquanto serve como elemento conformador da licitude do modo de exercício dos direitos subjetivos e formativos, atuando como verdadeiro fundamento de validade do abuso do direito. Assim, a compreensão dos limites do que pode ser considerado como lícito ou ilícito em matéria de planejamento tributário passa pela definição do conteúdo e da operatividade da boafé no Direito Tributário. Nessa tarefa, no entanto, a doutrina e a jurisprudência, de um modo geral, acabam por realizar uma transposição acrítica do conteúdo da boa-fé objetiva nas relações de Direito Privado, esquecendo-se que o standard de conduta exigido pela boa-fé é influenciado pelas demais normas de um determinado ramo normativo. No caso, as peculiaridades do Direito Tributário, tais como a força com que se liga aos princípios da segurança jurídica e da legalidade e a responsabilidade imposta à Administração Pública decorrente da presunção de legitimidade de seus atos, fazem com que a boa-fé objetiva assuma papel muito mais protetivo do contribuinte. Dessa forma, em que pese a boa-fé objetiva imponha limites ao exercício do direito do contribuinte de planejar suas atividades, esse limite não alcança a possibilidade reconhecer como ilícitos os atos e negócios jurídicos praticados pelos contribuintes no sentido de elidir a norma tributária. / The present study seeks to analyze the influence of the principie of objective good faith in the limits of tax planning, especially in relation to the possibility of disregarding lícít legal acts and business carríed out by taxpayers in order to reduce the tax burden. On the subject, part of the national doctrine and administratíve jurisprudence proposes a rereading of the autonomy of will, so that would be illegitimate the tax planning practiced with abuse of right, in this understood its various species, such as abuse of forms, fraud on the law and other pathologies of the legal business. Based on this observation, good faith plays an important role, since it serves as a constítutíve element of the lawfulness of the way of exercising subjectíve and formatíve rights, actíng as a true basís for the validíty of abuse of right. Thus, the understanding of the limits of what can be considered licit or illícit in tax planning is defíned by the content and operability of good faíth in Tax Law. In this task, however, doctrine and jurisprudence, in a general way, end up performing an uncritical transpositíon of the content of good faith from Prívate Law relatíons, forgetting that the standard of conduct required by good faith ís influenced by the other norms of a certain normatíve area. In this case, the peculíarities of Tax Law, such as the strength with which it is linked to the principies of legal certainty and legality and the responsibility imposed on the Public Administration arisíng from the presumptíon of legitimacy of its acts, make good faith assume a taxpayer's much more protective role. Thus, even though good faith limits the exercise of the ríght of the taxpayer to plan its activities, this limit does not reach the possibility to recognize as illegal the acts and legal business practiced by the taxpayers in the sense of avoidíng the tax rule.

The aim of this thesis is to understand tax compliance decisions made by corporate SMEs in Uganda. The study draws on compliance models developed in other settings and explores their applicability in the Ugandan context using mixed methods. Firstly, the study investigates the roles played by tax fairness, trust in government and the URA, and the effects of audits and sanctions in influencing compliance . Secondly, the study explores the direct and indirect roles played by social norms in terms of influencing tax compliance among SMEs . Lastly, the study assesses the effects of corruption on compliance behaviour among SMEs. Survey and semi-structured interview data were collected concurrently. A survey was used to collect data from a total of 386 corporate SME owners and managers from Kampala Capital City Authority and the central and eastern regions. In addition, interviews were conducted with 26 corporate SME owners and managers about their perceptions of corporate tax system fairness in Uganda. The results, unlike those of other studies, show that corporate SME taxpayers are willing to pay their corporate taxes once they have put their trust in the government and tax authorities, even when the tax system is unfair. Also, audit probability and sanctions might not encourage corporate SMEs to comply with corporate tax rules. However, when URA is perceived as powerful where tax officers are able to discover tax non-compliance and impose severe sanctions, SME firms could be motivated to pay taxes due to the government. Importantly, corruption within the URA and the bureaucratic system of Uganda has a negative impact on tax fairness, which triggers corporate tax evasion. Indeed, I have identified four types of corruption that appear to have different impacts on attitudes towards compliance. Also, the results show that day-to-day tax compliance decisions made by corporate SMEs have more direct influence on corporate SMEs’ tax (non)compliance behaviour than ethical values do. However, SMEs’ willingness to comply is affected by how people who are close to each taxpayer think. Overall, the thesis advances scholarship by demonstrating that the Slippery Slope Framework does not hold in Uganda and that different types of social norm impact compliance differently. Corruption is identified as an important differentiating feature when compared to studies in developed countries.

Purpose : The aim of this paper is to examine how companies which are subject to criticism for their tax avoidance strategies respond to such criticism by analyzing tax related disclosures in organizations’ annual reports as well as corporate social responsibility reports. Design/Methodology/Approach: A qualitative research design was applied using content analysis on annual and corporate social responsibility reports which were collected from the companies’ archives. The reports were selected in terms of the time that the tax avoidance scandal was exposed on media. Therefore, a three-year timeframe of reports was studied, one year before the scandal, the year of the scandal and one year after. The interpretation of the results was done using legitimacy theory. Findings : Three different disclosure strategies have been identified, namely accepting, challenging and influential strategies, which companies use in different ways A variation of responses to media criticism among the companies have been observed which indicates that there is not a framework of answering to media criticism for tax avoidance strategies. The study also illustrates that there is lack of disclosure strategies within the corporate social responsibility reports. Limitations/Implications: The data were collected only from annual reports and CSR reports; other corporate releases were not taken into consideration. The selected companies include one European company and five U.S. companies Originality/Value: The paper contributes to the understanding on how multinationals who are key actors use different response strategies for aggressive tax management as well as provides important information to tax administrators. Furthermore, a theoretical basis on linking corporate response strategies to media criticism based on a legitimacy framework is provided, which could facilitate managers in dealing with the public criticism when their legitimacy is threatened.