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The Role of Headquarters in Multinational Profit Shifting Strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Matthias Dischinger

    (University of Munich)

  • Nadine Riedel

    (Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation, CESifo Munich)

Abstract

This paper stresses the special role of multinational headquarters in corporate profit shifting strategies. Using a large panel of European firms, we show that multinational enterprises (MNEs) are reluctant to shift profits away from their headquarters even if these are located in high-tax countries. Thus, shifting activities in response to corporate tax rate differentials between parents and subsidiaries are found to be significantly larger if the parent observes a lower corporate tax rate than its subsidiary and profit is thus shifted towards the headquarters firm. This result is in line with recent empirical evidence suggesting that MNEs bias the location of profits and highly profitable assets in favor of the headquarters location (for agency cost reasons among others).

Suggested Citation

  • Matthias Dischinger & Nadine Riedel, 2010. "The Role of Headquarters in Multinational Profit Shifting Strategies," Working Papers 1003, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    • Handle: RePEc:btx:wpaper:1003
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthias Dischinger & Nadine Riedel, 2009. "There's no Place like Home: The Profitability Gap between Headquarters and their Foreign Subsidiaries," CESifo Working Paper Series 2866, CESifo.
    2. Dischinger, Matthias, 2008. "Profit Shifting by Multinationals and the Ownership Share: Evidence from European Micro Data," Discussion Papers in Economics 5661, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    3. Clausing, Kimberly A., 2003. "Tax-motivated transfer pricing and US intrafirm trade prices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 2207-2223, September.
    4. Thiess Büttner & Georg Wamser, 2007. "Intercompany Loans and Profit Shifting – Evidence from Company-Level Data," CESifo Working Paper Series 1959, CESifo.
    5. Grubert, Harry, 2003. "Intangible Income, Intercompany Transactions, Income Shifting, and the Choice of Location," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 56(1), pages 221-242, March.
    6. Schreiber, Ulrich & Overesch, Michael & Büttner, Thiess & Wamser, Georg, 2006. "The Impact of Thin-Capitalization Rules on Multinationals? Financing and Investment Decisions," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-068, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Alfons Weichenrieder, 2009. "Profit shifting in the EU: evidence from Germany," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(3), pages 281-297, June.
    8. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2008. "International profit shifting within multinationals: A multi-country perspective," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1164-1182, June.
    9. James R. Hines & Eric M. Rice, 1994. "Fiscal Paradise: Foreign Tax Havens and American Business," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 149-182.
    10. Michael P Devereux, 2007. "The Impact of Taxation on the Location of Capital, Firms and Profit: a Survey of Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 0702, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Lee, Namryoung & Swenson, Charles, 2016. "Effects of overseas subsidiaries on worldwide corporate taxes," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 47-59.
    2. Christian Seiler, 2012. "The Data Sets of the LMU-ifo Economics & Business Data Center – A Guide for Researchers," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 132(4), pages 609-618.
    3. Dharmapala, Dhammika & Riedel, Nadine, 2013. "Earnings shocks and tax-motivated income-shifting: Evidence from European multinationals," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 95-107.
    4. Sebastian Beer & Jan Loeprick, 2015. "Profit shifting: drivers of transfer (mis)pricing and the potential of countermeasures," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 22(3), pages 426-451, June.
    5. Matilde Pulido & Victor Barros, 2017. "Corporate Tax Avoidance And Ex Ante Equity Cost Of Capital In Europe," Portuguese Journal of Management Studies, ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, vol. 22(1), pages 51-74.
    6. Quentin Arnaud & Guillaume Dumas, 2020. "Lutter contre l’évasion fiscale : efficacité des dispositifs de reporting du projet BEPS," Post-Print hal-03948542, HAL.
    7. Nicolay, Katharina & Nusser, Hannah & Pfeiffer, Olena, 2017. "On the interdependency of profit shifting channels and the effectiveness of anti-avoidance legislation," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-066, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Kenji Matsui, 2012. "Auditing internal transfer prices in multinationals under monopolistic competition," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 19(6), pages 800-818, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Multinational Firm; Profit Shifting; Headquarters Location;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

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