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Corporate Tax Havens and Transparency

Author

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  • Morten Bennedsen
  • Stefan Zeume

Abstract

We investigate shareholders’ reactions to the increased transparency of corporate tax haven activities in a hand-collected subsidiary data set covering 17,331 publicly listed firms in 52 countries. An increase in transparency through the staggered signing of bilateral tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) between home countries and tax havens is associated with a 2.5% increase in the value of affected firms. The results are stronger for firms with more complex tax haven structures and weakly governed firms. Furthermore, firms that respond to TIEAs by haven hopping (i.e., they move subsidiaries from affected to nonaffected tax havens) do not experience an increase in firm value. These results are consistent with tax havens being used for expropriation activities that extend beyond pure tax-saving activities. Received March 4, 2017; editorial decision October 5, 2017 by Editor Andrew Karolyi. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University PressWeb site next to the link to the final published paper online.

Suggested Citation

  • Morten Bennedsen & Stefan Zeume, 2018. "Corporate Tax Havens and Transparency," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(4), pages 1221-1264.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:31:y:2018:i:4:p:1221-1264.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhx122
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    Cited by:

    1. Bayer, Ralph-C. & Hodler, Roland & Raschky, Paul A. & Strittmatter, Anthony, 2020. "Expropriations, property confiscations and new offshore entities: Evidence from the Panama Papers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 132-152.
    2. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Fangying Xu, 2019. "Are tax havens good? Implications of the crackdown on secrecy," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 127(2), pages 147-160, July.
    3. De Simone, Lisa & Klassen, Kenneth J. & Seidman, Jeri K., 2022. "The effect of income-shifting aggressiveness on corporate investment," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1).
    4. Verena K. Dutt & Christopher A. Ludwig & Katharina Nicolay & Heiko Vay & Johannes Voget, 2019. "Increasing tax transparency: investor reactions to the country-by-country reporting requirement for EU financial institutions," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(6), pages 1259-1290, December.
    5. Fernando, Garcia Alvarado & Antoine, Mandel, 2022. "The network structure of global tax evasion evidence from the Panama papers," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 660-684.
    6. Christina M. Lewellen, 2023. "Tax haven incorporation and financial reporting transparency," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 1811-1855, September.
    7. James O’Donovan & Hannes F Wagner & Stefan Zeume, 2019. "The Value of Offshore Secrets: Evidence from the Panama Papers," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 32(11), pages 4117-4155.
    8. David M. Kemme & Bhavik Parikh & Tanja Steigner, 2021. "Inequality, autocracy, and sovereign funds as determinants of foreign portfolio equity flows," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 44(2), pages 249-278, June.
    9. Wenxia Ge & Jeong-Bon Kim & Tiemei Li & Jing Zhang, 2022. "Subsidiary operations in offshore financial centers and bank risk-taking: International evidence," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 53(2), pages 268-301, March.
    10. Dutt, Verena & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2021. "Der EU-Vorschlag zum Country-by-Country Reporting im Internet: Kosten, Nutzen, Konsequenzen," Studien, Stiftung Familienunternehmen / Foundation for Family Businesses, number 250010, June.
    11. Massa, Massimo & Cheng, Si & Zhang, Hong, 2021. "Tax Evasion and Market Efficiency: Evidence from the FATCA and Offshore Mutual Funds," CEPR Discussion Papers 15747, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    12. Vincent Bouvatier & Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Anne-Laure Delatte, 2017. "Banks Defy Gravity in Tax Havens," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-03101505, HAL.
    13. Da Rin, Marco & Di Giacomo, M. & Sembenelli, A., 2018. "Corporate Income Taxation, Leverage at Entry, and the Growth of Entrepreneurial Companies," Discussion Paper 2018-055, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    14. K. V. Mukundhan & Sreevas Sahasranamam & James J. Cordeiro, 2019. "Corporate investments in tax havens: evidence from India," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 360-388, November.
    15. Dutt, Verena K. & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2021. "The EU proposal for country-by-country reporting on the internet: Costs, Benefits and Consequences," Studien, Stiftung Familienunternehmen / Foundation for Family Businesses, number 250025, June.
    16. Müller, Raphael & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2020. "On the determinants and effects of corporate tax transparency: Review of an emerging literature," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Olbert, Marcel & Spengel, Christoph & Weck, Stefan, 2023. "Multinational firms in tax havens: Corporate motives, regulatory countermeasures, and recent statistics," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-036, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    18. Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Lobo, Gerald J. & Qiu, Buhui, 2021. "Organizational capital, corporate tax avoidance, and firm value," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    19. Lisa De Simone & Rebecca Lester & Kevin Markle, 2020. "Transparency and Tax Evasion: Evidence from the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA)," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(1), pages 105-153, March.
    20. Ying Gan & Buhui Qiu, 2019. "Escape from the USA: Government debt-to-GDP ratio, country tax competitiveness, and US-OECD cross-border M&As," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 50(7), pages 1156-1183, September.

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