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Tax Externalities of Equity Mutual Funds

Author

Listed:
  • John B. Shoven
  • Joel Dickson
  • Clemens Sialm

Abstract

Investors holding mutual funds in taxable accounts face a classic externality. The after-tax return of their investment depends on the behavior of others. In particular, redemptions may force the mutual fund to sell some of its equity positions in order to pay off the liquidating investors. As a result, it may be forced to distribute taxable capital gains to its shareholders. On the other hand, new investors convey a positive externality upon existing investors by diluting the unrealized capital gain position of the fund. This paper's simulations show that these externalities are important determinants of the after-tax performance of equity mutual funds.

Suggested Citation

  • John B. Shoven & Joel Dickson & Clemens Sialm, 2000. "Tax Externalities of Equity Mutual Funds," NBER Working Papers 7669, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:7669
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Erik R. Sirri & Peter Tufano, 1998. "Costly Search and Mutual Fund Flows," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(5), pages 1589-1622, October.
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    3. Bergstresser, Daniel & Poterba, James, 2002. "Do after-tax returns affect mutual fund inflows?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 63(3), pages 381-414, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Chen, Qi & Goldstein, Itay & Jiang, Wei, 2010. "Payoff complementarities and financial fragility: Evidence from mutual fund outflows," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(2), pages 239-262, August.
    2. Koch, Reinald & Schön, Lena, 2024. "Taxes and the investment of mutual funds: Evidence from the German Investment Tax Reform," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 282, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    3. Clemens Sialm & Hanjiang Zhang, 2020. "Tax‐Efficient Asset Management: Evidence from Equity Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 735-777, April.
    4. Shoven, John B. & Sialm, Clemens, 2004. "Asset location in tax-deferred and conventional savings accounts," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-2), pages 23-38, January.
    5. Clemens Sialm & Laura T. Starks & Hanjiang Zhang, 2015. "Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Sticky or Discerning Money?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(2), pages 805-838, April.
    6. Nicholas Moehle & Mykel J. Kochenderfer & Stephen Boyd & Andrew Ang, 2021. "Tax-Aware Portfolio Construction via Convex Optimization," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 189(2), pages 364-383, May.
    7. Bührle, Anna Theresa & Yen, Chia-Yi, 2023. "Too much "skin in the game" ruins the game: Evidence from managerial capital gains taxes," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-028, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research, revised 2023.
    8. Fong, Kingsley Y.L. & Gallagher, David R. & Lau, Sarah S.W. & Swan, Peter L., 2009. "Do active fund managers care about capital gains tax efficiency?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 257-270, April.
    9. Woodrow T. Johnson & James M. Poterba, 2008. "Taxes and Mutual Fund Inflows Around Distribution Dates," NBER Working Papers 13884, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. James M. Poterba & John B. Shoven & Clemens Sialm, 2000. "Asset Location for Retirement Savers," NBER Working Papers 7991, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Dimmock, Stephen G. & Feng, Fan & Zhang, Huai, 2023. "Mutual funds' capital gains lock-in and earnings management," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Poterba, James M., 2002. "Taxation, risk-taking, and household portfolio behavior," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 17, pages 1109-1171, Elsevier.
    13. Zhe Chen & David R. Gallagher & Graham Harman & Geoffrey J. Warren & Lihui Xi, 2020. "How much does tax erode fund excess returns?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(4), pages 3407-3446, December.
    14. Liqun Liu & Zijun Wang, 2020. "Tax avoidance and asset returns: some theoretical results on the tax clientele effects," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(1), pages 41-49.
    15. Marcin Kacperczyk & Clemens Sialm & Lu Zheng, 2008. "Unobserved Actions of Mutual Funds," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(6), pages 2379-2416, November.
    16. Johnson, Woodrow T. & Poterba, James M., 2016. "The effect of taxes on shareholder inflows around mutual fund distribution dates," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 7-19.
    17. Dubofsky, David A., 2010. "Mutual fund portfolio trading and investor flow," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 802-812, April.
    18. Beggs, William & Hill-Kleespie, Austin & Liu, Yanguang, 2022. "Mutual fund tax implications when investment advisors manage tax-exempt separate accounts," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    19. Rydqvist, Kristian & Spizman, Joshua & Strebulaev, Ilya, 2014. "Government policy and ownership of equity securities," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(1), pages 70-85.
    20. James M. Poterba & John B. Shoven, 2002. "Exchange-Traded Funds: A New Investment Option for Taxable Investors," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(2), pages 422-427, May.
    21. Allison L. Evans, 2008. "Portfolio Manager Ownership and Mutual Fund Performance," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(3), pages 513-534, September.
    22. Greene, Jason T. & Hodges, Charles W. & Rakowski, David A., 2007. "Daily mutual fund flows and redemption policies," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(12), pages 3822-3842, December.
    23. George Aragon & Bing Liang & Hyuna Park, 2014. "Onshore and Offshore Hedge Funds: Are They Twins?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(1), pages 74-91, January.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • H23 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Externalities; Redistributive Effects; Environmental Taxes and Subsidies

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