IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v36y2016icp157-173.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax noncompliance and insider trading

Author

Listed:
  • Kallunki, Juha-Pekka
  • Mikkonen, Jenni
  • Nilsson, Henrik
  • Setterberg, Hanna

Abstract

This paper explores whether insiders who have shown noncompliance with the tax law (‘noncompliant insiders’) are more prone to exploit their information advantage in insider trading, compared to other insiders (‘compliant insiders’). Our empirical results from analyzing archival data of all insider trades in Sweden show that noncompliant insiders use more of their information advantage to trade their insider stocks shortly before significant stock price changes, compared to compliant insiders. These results remain similar after controlling for various insider- and firm-specific determinants of insider returns, including firm and year fixed effects. We believe that our results are of interest for academics and regulatory authorities monitoring and screening insider trading activity.

Suggested Citation

  • Kallunki, Juha-Pekka & Mikkonen, Jenni & Nilsson, Henrik & Setterberg, Hanna, 2016. "Tax noncompliance and insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 157-173.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:36:y:2016:i:c:p:157-173
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2015.12.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119915001546
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2015.12.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Reckers, Philip M.J. & Sanders, Debra L. & Roark, Stephen J., 1994. "The Influence of Ethical Attitudes on Taxpayer Compliance," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 47(4), pages 825-836, December.
    2. Enrichetta Ravina & Paola Sapienza, 2010. "What Do Independent Directors Know? Evidence from Their Trading," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Governance, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Xiao, Gang, 2015. "Trading and earnings management: Evidence from China's non-tradable share reform," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 67-90.
    4. Reena Aggarwal & Isil Erel & René Stulz & Rohan Williamson, 2010. "Differences in Governance Practices between U.S. and Foreign Firms: Measurement, Causes, and Consequences," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(3), pages 3131-3169, March.
    5. Bettis, J. C. & Coles, J. L. & Lemmon, M. L., 2000. "Corporate policies restricting trading by insiders," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 191-220, August.
    6. Alm, James & McClelland, Gary H. & Schulze, William D., 1992. "Why do people pay taxes?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 21-38, June.
    7. Laura Nyantung Beny, 2005. "Do Insider Trading Laws Matter? Some Preliminary Comparative Evidence," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series wp741, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    8. Graetz, Michael J & Reinganum, Jennifer F & Wilde, Louis L, 1986. "The Tax Compliance Game: Toward an Interactive Theory of Law Enforcement," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 2(1), pages 1-32, Spring.
    9. Bhattacharya, Utpal & Marshall, Cassandra D., 2012. "Do they do it for the money?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 92-104.
    10. Lakonishok, Josef & Lee, Inmoo, 2001. "Are Insider Trades Informative?," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 79-111.
    11. Brian Erard & Jonathan S. Feinstein, 1994. "Honesty and Evasion in the Tax Compliance Game," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 25(1), pages 1-19, Spring.
    12. Kraft, Anastasia & Lee, Bong Soo & Lopatta, Kerstin, 2014. "Management earnings forecasts, insider trading, and information asymmetry," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 96-123.
    13. Chyz, James A., 2013. "Personally tax aggressive executives and corporate tax sheltering," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 311-328.
    14. Jin, Li & Kothari, S.P., 2008. "Effect of personal taxes on managers' decisions to sell their stock," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 23-46, September.
    15. Grasmick, Harold G. & Scott, Wilbur J., 1982. "Tax evasion and mechanisms of social control: A comparison with grand and petty theft," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 213-230, September.
    16. Brockman, Paul & Tresl, Jiri & Unlu, Emre, 2014. "The impact of insider trading laws on dividend payout policy," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 263-287.
    17. Kallunki, Juha-Pekka & Nilsson, Henrik & Hellström, Jörgen, 2009. "Why do insiders trade? Evidence based on unique data on Swedish insiders," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 37-53, October.
    18. Gao, Feng & Lisic, Ling Lei & Zhang, Ivy Xiying, 2014. "Commitment to social good and insider trading," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(2), pages 149-175.
    19. Michael S. Rozeff & Mir A. Zaman, 1998. "Overreaction and Insider Trading: Evidence from Growth and Value Portfolios," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 53(2), pages 701-716, April.
    20. Kyle, Albert S, 1985. "Continuous Auctions and Insider Trading," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 53(6), pages 1315-1335, November.
    21. Alan D. Jagolinzer & David F. Larcker & Daniel J. Taylor, 2011. "Corporate Governance and the Information Content of Insider Trades," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 49(5), pages 1249-1274, December.
    22. Garfinkel, Jon A., 1997. "New evidence on the effects of federal regulations on insider trading: The Insider Trading and Securities Fraud Enforcement Act (ITSFEA)," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 89-111, April.
    23. Utpal Bhattacharya & Hazem Daouk, 2002. "The World Price of Insider Trading," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 75-108, February.
    24. Huddart, Steven & Ke, Bin & Shi, Charles, 2007. "Jeopardy, non-public information, and insider trading around SEC 10-K and 10-Q filings," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 3-36, March.
    25. Denis, David J. & Xu, Jin, 2013. "Insider trading restrictions and top executive compensation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 91-112.
    26. Srinivasan, T. N., 1973. "Tax evasion: A model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 339-346.
    27. Seyhun, H. Nejat, 1986. "Insiders' profits, costs of trading, and market efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 189-212, June.
    28. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    29. Arturo Bris, 2005. "Do Insider Trading Laws Work?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 11(3), pages 267-312, June.
    30. David Aboody & John Hughes & Jing Liu, 2005. "Earnings Quality, Insider Trading, and Cost of Capital," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(5), pages 651-673, December.
    31. Kaplan, Steven E. & Samuels, Janet A. & Thorne, Linda, 2009. "Ethical norms of CFO insider trading," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 386-400, September.
    32. Alm, James & Torgler, Benno, 2006. "Culture differences and tax morale in the United States and in Europe," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 224-246, April.
    33. Arturo Bris, 2000. "Do Insider Trading Laws Work?," Yale School of Management Working Papers ysm162, Yale School of Management, revised 01 Jun 2005.
    34. Reckers, Philip M.J. & Sanders, Debra L. & Roark, Stephen J., 1994. "The Influence of Ethical Attitudes on Taxpayer Compliance," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 47(4), pages 825-36, December.
    35. Skaife, Hollis A. & Veenman, David & Wangerin, Daniel, 2013. "Internal control over financial reporting and managerial rent extraction: Evidence from the profitability of insider trading," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 91-110.
    36. Ke, Bin & Huddart, Steven & Petroni, Kathy, 2003. "What insiders know about future earnings and how they use it: Evidence from insider trades," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(3), pages 315-346, August.
    37. Lee, Inmoo & Lemmon, Michael & Li, Yan & Sequeira, John M., 2014. "Do voluntary corporate restrictions on insider trading eliminate informed insider trading?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 158-178.
    38. Allingham, Michael G. & Sandmo, Agnar, 1972. "Income tax evasion: a theoretical analysis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(3-4), pages 323-338, November.
    39. Piotroski, Joseph D. & Roulstone, Darren T., 2005. "Do insider trades reflect both contrarian beliefs and superior knowledge about future cash flow realizations?," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 55-81, February.
    40. Agrawal, Anup & Nasser, Tareque, 2012. "Insider trading in takeover targets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 598-625.
    41. Hillier, David & Korczak, Adriana & Korczak, Piotr, 2015. "The impact of personal attributes on corporate insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 150-167.
    42. Qiang Cheng & Kin Lo, 2006. "Insider Trading and Voluntary Disclosures," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 815-848, December.
    43. Laura Nyantung Beny, 2005. "Do Insider Trading Laws Matter? Some Preliminary Comparative Evidence," American Law and Economics Review, Oxford University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 144-183.
    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


    Cited by:

    1. Kallunki, Jenni & Kallunki, Juha-Pekka & Nilsson, Henrik & Puhakka, Mikko, 2018. "Do an insider's wealth and income matter in the decision to engage in insider trading?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 135-165.
    2. Minhang Deng & Yunyi Wang & Gaoliang Tian & Bozhi Xu & Yuyan Tang, 2023. "Institutional investors' corporate site visits and resource extraction: Evidence from China," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(5), pages 5211-5243, December.
    3. Sundgren, Stefan & Alexeyeva, Irina, 2022. "Entrepreneurs’ legal infractions and hidden information: Evidence from small business bankruptcies," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    4. Robert H. Davidson & Aiyesha Dey & Abbie Smith, 2020. "Executives' Legal Records and the Deterrent Effect of Corporate Governance†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1444-1474, September.
    5. Batten, Jonathan A. & Lucey, Brian M. & Peat, Maurice, 2016. "Gold and silver manipulation: What can be empirically verified?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 168-176.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kallunki, Jenni & Kallunki, Juha-Pekka & Nilsson, Henrik & Puhakka, Mikko, 2018. "Do an insider's wealth and income matter in the decision to engage in insider trading?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 130(1), pages 135-165.
    2. Hillier, David & Korczak, Adriana & Korczak, Piotr, 2015. "The impact of personal attributes on corporate insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 150-167.
    3. Sung Gon Chung & Beng Wee Goh & Jimmy Lee & Terry Shevlin, 2019. "Corporate Tax Aggressiveness and Insider Trading," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 230-258, March.
    4. Chen, Shenglan & Ma, Hui & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2023. "Does common ownership constrain managerial rent extraction? Evidence from insider trading profitability," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    5. Contreras, Harold & Korczak, Adriana & Korczak, Piotr, 2023. "Religion and insider trading profits," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    6. Contreras, Harold & Marcet, Francisco, 2021. "Sell-side analyst heterogeneity and insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    7. Rahman, Dewan & Kabir, Muhammad & Oliver, Barry, 2021. "Does exposure to product market competition influence insider trading profitability?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    8. Goldman, Nathan C. & Ozel, Naim Bugra, 2023. "Executive compensation, individual-level tax rates, and insider trading profits," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1).
    9. Dai, Lili & Fu, Renhui & Kang, Jun-Koo & Lee, Inmoo, 2016. "Corporate governance and the profitability of insider trading," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 235-253.
    10. Rahman, Dewan & Malik, Ihtisham & Ali, Searat & Iqbal, Jamshed, 2021. "Do co-opted boards increase insider profitability?," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3).
    11. Wei Li & Yunyan Zhang, 2022. "Managerial political orientation and insider trading," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 513-545, March.
    12. Guanming He & Helen Mengbing Ren & Richard Taffler, 2021. "Do corporate insiders trade on future stock price crash risk?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1561-1591, May.
    13. Chang, Millicent & Wee, Marvin, 2016. "The effect of voluntary versus mandatory adoption of trading policies on the returns to insider trades," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 76-87.
    14. Sun, Fangcheng & Dutta, Shantanu & Zhu, Pengcheng & Ren, Wentao, 2021. "Female insiders' ethics and trading profitability," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    15. Sun, Fangcheng & Dutta, Shantanu & Huang, Hui & Zhu, Pengcheng, 2021. "News media and insider trading profitability: An emerging country perspective," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    16. Adriana Korczak & Piotr Korczak & Meziane Lasfer, 2010. "To Trade or Not to Trade: The Strategic Trading of Insiders around News Announcements," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(3‐4), pages 369-407, April.
    17. Chang, Millicent & Watson, Iain, 2015. "Delayed disclosure of insider trades: Incentives for and indicators of future performance?," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 35(PA), pages 182-197.
    18. Aier, Jagadison K., 2013. "Insider trading in loss firms," Advances in accounting, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 12-26.
    19. Sander De Groote & Liesbeth Bruynseels & Ann Gaeremynck, 2023. "Are All Directors Treated Equally? Evidence from Director Turnover Following Opportunistic Insider Selling," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(1), pages 185-207, June.
    20. Robert H. Davidson & Aiyesha Dey & Abbie Smith, 2020. "Executives' Legal Records and the Deterrent Effect of Corporate Governance†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(3), pages 1444-1474, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Insider trading; Tax noncompliance; Noncompliant insiders;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • K42 - Law and Economics - - Legal Procedure, the Legal System, and Illegal Behavior - - - Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:36:y:2016:i:c:p:157-173. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.