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Tax Havens and Effective Tax Rates: An Analysis of Private versus Public European Firms

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  • Jaafar, Aziz
  • Thornton, John

Abstract

We examine the impact of tax haven operations on the effective corporate tax burdens of publicly listed and privately held firms domiciled in Europe. In particular, we consider how European firms' tax haven operations interact with factors such as listing status and home-country tax reporting systems to determine the relative tax burdens of publicly listed and private firms. Our main empirical results show that tax haven operations are associated with lower effective tax rates for both private and public firms, and that the impact of tax havens in lowering effective tax rates is more pronounced for private firms than for public firms. Home country characteristics are also important determinants of effective tax rates for both private and public firms with tax havens. Given that firms use tax havens as tax avoidance mechanism in lowering tax burdens regardless of their listing status, regulatory and tax enforcement bodies should focus on private as well as public firms.

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  • Jaafar, Aziz & Thornton, John, 2015. "Tax Havens and Effective Tax Rates: An Analysis of Private versus Public European Firms," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 435-457.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:accoun:v:50:y:2015:i:4:p:435-457
    DOI: 10.1016/j.intacc.2015.10.005
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Effective tax rates; Publicly listed firms; Private firms; Tax havens;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H20 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - General
    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting

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