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Profit shifting in the EU: evidence from Germany

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  • Alfons Weichenrieder

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Abstract

The paper considers profit shifting behavior using data on German inbound and outbound FDI. It finds an empirical correlation between the home country tax rate of a parent and the net of tax profitability of its German affiliate that is consistent with profit shifting behavior. For profitable affiliates that are directly owned by a foreign investor the evidence suggests that a 10 percentage point increase in the parent's home country tax rate leads to roughly half a percentage point increase in the profitability of the German affiliate. On the outbound side of German FDI, the data provides some evidence that tax rate changes in the host country lead to a stronger change in after-tax profitability for affiliates that are wholly owned, which may reflect the larger flexibility of these firms in carrying out tax minimizing behavior without interference of minority owners.

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Bibliographic Info

Article provided by Springer in its journal International Tax and Public Finance.

Volume (Year): 16 (2009)
Issue (Month): 3 (June)
Pages: 281-297

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Handle: RePEc:kap:itaxpf:v:16:y:2009:i:3:p:281-297

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Web page: http://www.springerlink.com/link.asp?id=102915

Related research

Keywords: Foreign direct investment; Profit shifting; Tax avoidance; Multinational enterprise; H25; F23;

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References

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  1. Jack M. Mintz, 2003. "Conduit Entities: Implications of Indirect Tax-Efficient Financing Structures for Real Investment," International Tax Program Papers 0410, International Tax Program, Institute for International Business, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto, revised Sep 2004.
  2. Guttorm Schjelderup & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 1999. "Trade, Multinationals, and Transfer Pricing Regulations," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(3), pages 817-844, May.
  3. Kashif S. Mansori & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2001. "Tax Competition and Transfer Pricing Disputes," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 58(1), pages 1-, December.
  4. Bartelsman, Eric J & Beetsma, Roel, 2000. "Why Pay More? Corporate Tax Avoidance Through Transfer Pricing in OECD Countries," CEPR Discussion Papers 2543, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  5. Elitzur, Ramy & Mintz, Jack, 1996. "Transfer pricing rules and corporate tax competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 401-422, June.
  6. Büttner, Thiess & Ruf, Martin, 2004. "Tax Incentives and the Location of FDI: Evidence from a Panel of German Multinationals," ZEW Discussion Papers 04-76, ZEW - Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung / Center for European Economic Research.
  7. Wolfgang Eggert & Andreas Haufler, 2006. "Company Tax Coordination cum Tax Rate Competition in the European Union," Ifo Working Paper Series Ifo Working Papers No. 28, Ifo Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
  8. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines, Jr., 2002. "The Costs of Shared Ownership: Evidence from International Joint Ventures," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Alliances National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  9. Fred Ramb & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2005. "Taxes and the Financial Structure of German Inward FDI," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer, vol. 141(4), pages 670-692, December.
  10. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2007. "International Profit Shifting within European Multinationals," CEPR Discussion Papers 6048, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  11. Jeremy S. S. Edwards & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2004. "Ownership Concentration and Share Valuation," German Economic Review, Verein für Socialpolitik, vol. 5(2), pages 143-171, 05.
  12. Alberto Giovannini & R. Glen Hubbard & Joel Slemrod, 1993. "Studies in International Taxation," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number giov93-1, April.
  13. Donald Rousslang, 1997. "International income shifting by US multinational corporations," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 29(7), pages 925-934.
  14. David Harris & Randall Morck & Joel Slemrod & Bernard Yeung, 1991. "Income Shifting in U.S. Multinational Corporations," NBER Working Papers 3924, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  15. James R. Hines, Jr. & Eric M. Rice, 1994. "Fiscal Paradise: Foreign Tax Havens and American Business," NBER Working Papers 3477, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  16. Jack Mintz & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2005. "Taxation and the Financial Structure of German Outbound FDI," CESifo Working Paper Series 1612, CESifo Group Munich.
  17. Grubert, Harry & Mutti, John, 1991. "Taxes, Tariffs and Transfer Pricing in Multinational Corporate Decision Making," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(2), pages 285-93, May.
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