IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaecon/v63y2017i2p428-453.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

IRS and corporate taxpayer effects of geographic proximity

Author

Listed:
  • Kubick, Thomas R.
  • Lockhart, G. Brandon
  • Mills, Lillian F.
  • Robinson, John R.

Abstract

We investigate whether geographic proximity between corporate headquarters and IRS regional offices affects corporate tax avoidance and the likelihood and productivity of IRS examinations. Using geographic distance to represent information asymmetry, we find that corporations avoid more tax when located closer to the IRS unless they are close to an IRS industry specialist. This finding is consistent with taxpayers believing proximity provides them with an information advantage over the IRS. From the perspective of the IRS, we find that the Service is more likely to audit nearby companies and to assess more tax per hour from nearby taxpayers, except during constrained budget years. IRS audit likelihood and productivity are unaffected by the presence of nearby industry specialists, consistent with industry specialist proximity already constraining avoidance. Our tax compliance setting provides dual-party evidence on the proximity-information asymmetry hypothesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Kubick, Thomas R. & Lockhart, G. Brandon & Mills, Lillian F. & Robinson, John R., 2017. "IRS and corporate taxpayer effects of geographic proximity," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 428-453.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:63:y:2017:i:2:p:428-453
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jacceco.2016.09.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S016541011630057X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jacceco.2016.09.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chen, Shuping & Chen, Xia & Cheng, Qiang & Shevlin, Terry, 2010. "Are family firms more tax aggressive than non-family firms?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(1), pages 41-61, January.
    2. Zoran Ivković & Scott Weisbenner, 2005. "Local Does as Local Is: Information Content of the Geography of Individual Investors' Common Stock Investments," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 267-306, February.
    3. Mills, Lillian F. & Plesko, George A., 2003. "Bridging the Reporting Gap: A Proposal for More Informative Reconciling of Book and Tax Income," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 56(4), pages 865-893, December.
    4. Kedia, Simi & Rajgopal, Shiva, 2011. "Do the SEC's enforcement preferences affect corporate misconduct?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(3), pages 259-278, April.
    5. Scotchmer, Suzanne & Slemrod, Joel, 1989. "Randomness in tax enforcement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 17-32, February.
    6. Crocker, Keith J. & Slemrod, Joel, 2005. "Corporate tax evasion with agency costs," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(9-10), pages 1593-1610, September.
    7. Gupta, Sanjay & Newberry, Kaye, 1997. "Determinants of the variability in corporate effective tax rates: Evidence from longitudinal data," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(1), pages 1-34.
    8. Graetz, Michael J & Reinganum, Jennifer F & Wilde, Louis L, 1986. "The Tax Compliance Game: Toward an Interactive Theory of Law Enforcement," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    9. Scott D. Dyreng & Bradley P. Lindsey, 2009. "Using Financial Accounting Data to Examine the Effect of Foreign Operations Located in Tax Havens and Other Countries on U.S. Multinational Firms' Tax Rates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1283-1316, December.
    10. Slemrod, Joel & Blumenthal, Marsha & Christian, Charles, 2001. "Taxpayer response to an increased probability of audit: evidence from a controlled experiment in Minnesota," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(3), pages 455-483, March.
    11. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    12. Hanlon, Michelle & Slemrod, Joel, 2009. "What does tax aggressiveness signal? Evidence from stock price reactions to news about tax shelter involvement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 126-141, February.
    13. Jun‐Koo Kang & Jin‐Mo Kim, 2008. "The Geography of Block Acquisitions," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 63(6), pages 2817-2858, December.
    14. John Gallemore & Edward L. Maydew & Jacob R. Thornock, 2014. "The Reputational Costs of Tax Avoidance," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 31(4), pages 1103-1133, December.
    15. Audretsch, David B & Stephan, Paula E, 1996. "Company-Scientist Locational Links: The Case of Biotechnology," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 641-652, June.
    16. Mills, LF, 1998. "Book-tax differences and internal revenue service adjustments," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 343-356.
    17. Auerbach,Alan J. & Hines, Jr.,James R. & Slemrod,Joel (ed.), 2007. "Taxing Corporate Income in the 21st Century," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521870221.
    18. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    19. Audretsch, David B & Feldman, Maryann P, 1996. "R&D Spillovers and the Geography of Innovation and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(3), pages 630-640, June.
    20. Graham, John R. & Tucker, Alan L., 2006. "Tax shelters and corporate debt policy," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 563-594, September.
    21. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    22. Hanlon, Michelle, 2003. "What Can We Infer About a Firm’s Taxable Income From Its Financial Statements?," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 56(4), pages 831-863, December.
    23. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 1999. "Home Bias at Home: Local Equity Preference in Domestic Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2045-2073, December.
    24. Joshua D. Coval & Tobias J. Moskowitz, 2001. "The Geography of Investment: Informed Trading and Asset Prices," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(4), pages 811-841, August.
    25. Allingham, Michael G. & Sandmo, Agnar, 1972. "Income tax evasion: a theoretical analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 323-338, November.
    26. Christopher J. Malloy, 2005. "The Geography of Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 719-755, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Tianjiao Zhao & Xiang Xiao & Qinghui Dai, 2021. "Transportation Infrastructure Construction and High-Quality Development of Enterprises: Evidence from the Quasi-Natural Experiment of High-Speed Railway Opening in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-23, December.
    2. Thomas R. Kubick & Yijun Li & John R. Robinson, 2020. "Tax-savvy executives," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 1301-1343, December.
    3. Lartey, Theophilus & Uddin, Moshfique & Danso, Albert & Wood, Geoffrey, 2022. "CEO overconfidence and IRS attention," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    4. Kovermann, Jost & Velte, Patrick, 2019. "The impact of corporate governance on corporate tax avoidance—A literature review," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 1-1.
    5. Duong, Truong X. & Meschke, Felix, 2020. "The rise and fall of portfolio pumping among U.S. mutual funds," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    6. Xu, Lingling & Huang, Xiaodi & Liu, Guanchun & Liu, Yuanyuan, 2023. "Tax authority enforcement and stock price crash risk: Evidence from China," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 55(PA).
    7. Hossain, Mahmud & Mitra, Santanu, 2023. "Does headquarters location matter in corporate tax avoidance?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Xiong, Jiacai & Ouyang, Caiyue & Tong, Jamie Yixing & Zhang, Feida Frank, 2021. "Fraud commitment in a smaller world: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    9. Beck, Matthew J. & Gunn, Joshua L. & Hallman, Nicholas, 2019. "The geographic decentralization of audit firms and audit quality," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1).
    10. Shofiqur Rahman, 2020. "Credit supply and capital structure adjustments," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 949-972, December.
    11. Lisa De Simone & Jordan Nickerson & Jeri Seidman & Bridget Stomberg, 2020. "How Reliably Do Empirical Tests Identify Tax Avoidance?†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1536-1561, September.
    12. Wenzhou Qu & Shaoqing Kang & Lihong Wang, 2020. "Saving or tunnelling: value effects of tax avoidance in Chinese listed local government‐controlled firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(5), pages 4421-4465, December.
    13. Siglé, Maarten A. & Goslinga, Sjoerd & Speklé, Roland F. & van der Hel, Lisette E.C.J.M., 2022. "The cooperative approach to corporate tax compliance: An empirical assessment," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    14. Chen, Hanwen & Liu, Siyi & Wang, Junjie & Wu, Zhijuan, 2022. "The effect of geographic proximity on corporate tax avoidance: Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    15. Drake, Katharine D. & Hamilton, Russ & Lusch, Stephen J., 2020. "Are declining effective tax rates indicative of tax avoidance? Insight from effective tax rate reconciliations," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    2. Hossain, Mahmud & Mitra, Santanu, 2023. "Does headquarters location matter in corporate tax avoidance?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    3. Kelvin K. F. Law & Lillian F. Mills, 2017. "Military experience and corporate tax avoidance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 141-184, March.
    4. Hope, Ole-Kristian & Ma, Mark (Shuai) & Thomas, Wayne B., 2013. "Tax avoidance and geographic earnings disclosure," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 170-189.
    5. Mohammed Benlemlih & Jamil Jaballah & Sholom Schochet & Jonathan Peillex, 2023. "Corporate social responsibility and corporate tax avoidance: The channel effect of consumer awareness," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1-2), pages 31-60, January.
    6. Chyz, James A. & Ching Leung, Winnie Siu & Zhen Li, Oliver & Meng Rui, Oliver, 2013. "Labor unions and tax aggressiveness," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(3), pages 675-698.
    7. Jordi Caballé & Ariadna Dumitrescu, 2016. "Disclosure of Corporate Tax Reports, Tax Enforcement, and Insider Trading," Working Papers 911, Barcelona School of Economics.
    8. Guanming He & Helen Mengbing Ren & Richard Taffler, 2020. "The impact of corporate tax avoidance on analyst coverage and forecasts," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 447-477, February.
    9. Martin Jacob & Anna Rohlfing-Bastian & Kai Sandner, 2021. "Why do not all firms engage in tax avoidance?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 459-495, February.
    10. Alharbi, Samar & Atawnah, Nader & Al Mamun, Md & Ali, Muhammad Jahangir, 2022. "Local culture and tax avoidance: Evidence from gambling preference behavior," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    11. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Jagolinzer, Alan D. & Larcker, David F., 2015. "Corporate governance, incentives, and tax avoidance," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 1-17.
    12. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung (Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 109-130.
    13. Akhtar, Shumi & Akhtar, Farida & John, Kose & Wong, Su-Wen, 2019. "Multinationals' tax evasion: A financial and governance perspective," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 35-62.
    14. Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Yinghua & Zhang, Liandong, 2011. "Corporate tax avoidance and stock price crash risk: Firm-level analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(3), pages 639-662, June.
    15. Lisa Frey, 2018. "Tax certified individual auditors and effective tax rates," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 11(1), pages 77-114, February.
    16. Juan Monterrey Mayoral & Amparo Sánchez Segura, 2015. "Planificación fiscal y Gobierno Corporativo en las empresas cotizadas españolas," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 214(3), pages 55-89, September.
    17. Simon Loretz & Padraig Moore, 2013. "Corporate tax competition between firms," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 20(5), pages 725-752, October.
    18. Brooks, Chris & Godfrey, Chris & Hillenbrand, Carola & Money, Kevin, 2016. "Do investors care about corporate taxes?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 218-248.
    19. Chii-Shyan Kuo, 2022. "Family firms, tax avoidance, and socioemotional wealth: evidence from tax reform in Taiwan," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1535-1572, May.
    20. Chao Jiang & Thomas R. Kubick & Mihail K. Miletkov & M. Babajide Wintoki, 2018. "Offshore Expertise for Onshore Companies: Director Connections to Island Tax Havens and Corporate Tax Policy," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(7), pages 3241-3268, July.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax avoidance; Geographic proximity; IRS audit probability; Budget constraints;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • M52 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Compensation and Compensation Methods and Their Effects

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaecon:v:63:y:2017:i:2:p:428-453. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jae .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.