Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Sorting into Outsourcing: Are Pro ts Taxed at a Gorilla's Arm's Length?

Contents:

Author Info

  • Bauer, Christian
  • Langenmayr, Dominika

Abstract

This article analyzes profit taxation according to the arm's length principle in a new model where heterogeneous firms sort into foreign outsourcing. We show that multinational firms are able to shift profits abroad even if they fully comply with the tax code. This is because, in equilibrium, intra-firm transactions occur in firms that are better than the market at input production. Transfer prices set at market values following the arm's length principle thus systematically exceed multinationals' marginal costs. This allows for a reduction of tax payments with each unit sold. The optimal organization of firms hence provides a new rationale for the empirically observed lower tax burden of multinational corporations.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/12311/1/Bauer_Langenmayr_2011_mimeo_Sorting_into_Outsourcing-Are_Profits_Taxed_at_a_Gorillas_Arms_Length.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by University of Munich, Department of Economics in its series Discussion Papers in Economics with number 12311.

as in new window
Length:
Date of creation: Sep 2011
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:12311

Contact details of provider:
Postal: Ludwigstr. 28, 80539 Munich, Germany
Phone: +49-(0)89-2180-2926
Fax: +49-(0)89-2180-3510
Web page: http://www.vwl.uni-muenchen.de
More information through EDIRC

Related research

Keywords: outsourcing; profit taxation; transfer pricing; arm's length principle; multinational firms;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
as in new window
  1. Gumpert, Anna & Hines, James R. & Schnitzer, Monika, 2011. "The use of tax havens in exemption regimes," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2011,30, Deutsche Bundesbank, Research Centre.
  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. Matthew T. Cole (University College Dublin) Ronald B. Davies (University College Dublin), 2009. "Optimal Tariffs, Tariff Jumping, and Heterogeneous Firms," The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series iiisdp302, IIIS.
  4. 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.
  5. Voget, Johannes, 2011. "Relocation of headquarters and international taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9-10), pages 1067-1081, October.
  6. Sebastian Krautheim & Tim Schmidt-Eisenlohr, 2009. "Heterogeneous firms, "Profit Shifting" FDI and international tax competition," Post-Print halshs-00442818, HAL.
  7. Elitzur, Ramy & Mintz, Jack, 1996. "Transfer pricing rules and corporate tax competition," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 401-422, June.
  8. Thiess Buettner & Michael Overesch & Ulrich Schreiber & Georg Wamser, 2006. "Taxation and Capital Structure Choice – Evidence from a Panel of German Multinationals," CESifo Working Paper Series 1841, CESifo Group Munich.
  9. Chor, Davin, 2009. "Subsidies for FDI: Implications from a model with heterogeneous firms," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(1), pages 113-125, June.
  10. Voget, Johannes, 2011. "Relocation of headquarters and international taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(9), pages 1067-1081.
  11. Peter Egger & Wolfgang Eggert & Hannes Winner, 2007. "Saving Taxes Through Foreign Plant Ownership," CESifo Working Paper Series 1887, CESifo Group Munich.
  12. Tomiura, Eiichi, 2007. "Foreign outsourcing, exporting, and FDI: A productivity comparison at the firm level," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 113-127, May.
  13. Melitz, Marc J, 2002. "The Impact of Trade on Intra-Industry Reallocations and Aggregate Industry Productivity," CEPR Discussion Papers 3381, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
  14. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2006. "The demand for tax haven operations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(3), pages 513-531, February.
  15. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman & Adam Szeidl, 2003. "Optimal Integration Strategies for the Multinational Firm," Working Papers 142, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Discussion Papers in Economics..
  16. Simon Loretz & Padraig J. Moore, 2009. "Corporate tax competition between firms," Working Papers 2009/19, Institut d'Economia de Barcelona (IEB).
  17. Egger, Peter & Eggert, Wolfgang & Keuschnigg, Christian & Winner, Hannes, 2010. "Corporate taxation, debt financing and foreign-plant ownership," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 96-107, January.
  18. Helpman, Elhanan & Antras, Pol, 2004. "Global Sourcing," Scholarly Articles 4784029, Harvard University Department of Economics.
  19. Haufler, Andreas & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2000. "Corporate Tax Systems and Cross Country Profit Shifting," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(2), pages 306-25, April.
  20. Head, Keith & Ries, John, 2003. "Heterogeneity and the FDI versus export decision of Japanese manufacturers," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 17(4), pages 448-467, December.
  21. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2005. "Outsourcing in a Global Economy," Review of Economic Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 72(1), pages 135-159, 01.
  22. Dixit, Avinash K & Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1975. "Monopolistic Competition and Optimum Product Diversity," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 64, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
  23. Janeba, Eckhard, 1996. "Foreign direct investment under oligopoly: Profit shifting or profit capturing?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(3), pages 423-445, June.
  24. Richard Baldwin & Toshihiro Okubo, 2009. "Tax reform, delocation and heterogeneous firms," NBER Working Papers 15109, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  25. Barbara Spencer, 2005. "International outsourcing and incomplete contracts," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 38(4), pages 1107-1135, November.
  26. Oliver Lorz & Matthias Wrede, 2008. "Standardization of intermediate goods and international trade," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 41(2), pages 517-536, May.
  27. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2002. "Integration Versus Outsourcing In Industry Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(1), pages 85-120, February.
  28. Thomas Gresik & Petter Osmundsen, 2008. "Transfer pricing in vertically integrated industries," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 231-255, June.
  29. Harry Grubert & Timothy Goodspeed & Deborah L. Swenson, 1993. "Explaining the Low Taxable Income of Foreign-Controlled Companies in the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in International Taxation, pages 237-276 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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 in new window

Cited by:
  1. Dominika Langenmayr & Andreas Haufler & Christian J. Bauer, 2012. "Should tax policy favor high- or low-productivity firms?," Working Papers 130, Bavarian Graduate Program in Economics (BGPE).

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:12311

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Robert Ulbricht).

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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