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Immobilizing Corporate Income Shifting: Should It Be Safe to Strip in the Harbor?

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  • Schindler, Dirk Steffen
  • Gresik, Thomas
  • Schindler, Dirk
  • Schjelderup, Guttorm

Abstract

Many subsidiaries can deduct interest payments on internal debt from their taxable income. By issuing internal debt from a tax haven, multinationals can shift income out of host countries through the interest rates they charge and the amount of internal debt they issue. We show that, from a welfare perspective, thin-capitalization rules that restrict the amount of debt for which interest is tax deductible (safe harbor rules) are inferior to rules that limit the ratio of debt interest to pre-tax earnings (earnings stripping rules), even if a safe harbor rule is used in conjunction with an earnings stripping rule.

Suggested Citation

  • Schindler, Dirk Steffen & Gresik, Thomas & Schindler, Dirk & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2016. "Immobilizing Corporate Income Shifting: Should It Be Safe to Strip in the Harbor?," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145477, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145477
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    Cited by:

    1. Mardan, Mohammed, 2017. "Why countries differ in thin capitalization rules: The role of financial development," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-14.
    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. Gideon Goerdt & Wolfgang Eggert, 2022. "Substitution across profit shifting methods and the impact on thin capitalization rules," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(3), pages 581-599, June.
    4. Janeba, Eckhard & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2023. "The global minimum tax raises more revenues than you think, or much less," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 145(C).
    5. S. Juranek & D. Schindler & A. Schneider, 2023. "Royalty taxation under tax competition and profit shifting," Canadian Journal of Economics/Revue canadienne d'économique, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 56(4), pages 1377-1412, November.
    6. Gresik, Thomas A. & Schindler, Dirk & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2020. "Playing Easy or Playing Hard to Get: When and How to Attract FDI," Discussion Papers 2020/7, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    7. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2020. "Do Multinational Firms Use Tax Havens to the Detriment of Other Countries?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8275, CESifo.
    8. Bornemann, Tobias, 2018. "Do transfer pricing rules distort R&D investment decisions?," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 233, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    9. Harju, Jarkko & Kauppinen, Ilpo & Ropponen, Olli, 2017. "Firm Responses to an Interest Barrier: Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 90, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    10. Alex A. T. Rathke, 2023. "Profit shifting under the arm's length principle," Papers 2309.13449, arXiv.org.
    11. Petr Janský & Jan Láznička & Miroslav Palanský, 2021. "Tax treaties worldwide: Estimating elasticities and revenue foregone," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 359-401, May.
    12. Zarko Y. Kalamov, 2023. "Internal debt and welfare," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 25(1), pages 196-224, February.
    13. Haufler, Andreas & Mardan, Mohammed & Schindler, Dirk, 2018. "Double tax discrimination to attract FDI and fight profit shifting: The role of CFC rules," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 25-43.
    14. Zarko Y. Kalamov, 2020. "Safe haven or earnings stripping rules: a prisoner’s dilemma?," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 38-76, February.
    15. OKOSHI Hirofumi, 2024. "Negotiation for Transfer Prices under the Arm's Length Principle," Discussion papers 24026, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    16. Ropponen, Olli, 2021. "Interest Limitation Rules and Business Cycles: Empirical Evidence," ETLA Working Papers 90, The Research Institute of the Finnish Economy.

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    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • K34 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Tax Law

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