The determinants of thinly capitalized tax avoidance structures: Evidence from Australian firms

Taylor, Grantley; Richardson, Grant

doi:10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2013.02.005

194311_194311.pdf (286.9Kb)

Access Status

Open access

Authors

Taylor, Grantley

Richardson, Grant

Date

2013

Type

Journal Article

Metadata

Show full item record

Citation

Taylor, Grantley and Richardson, Grant. 2013. The determinants of thinly capitalized tax avoidance structures: Evidence from Australian firms. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. 22 (1): pp. 12-25.

Source Title

Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation

DOI

10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2013.02.005

ISSN

1061-9518

Remarks

This is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in the Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Volume 22, Issue 1, 2013, Pages 12–25. http://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2013.02.005

URI

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/10281

Collection

Curtin Research Publications

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of thinly capitalized structures of publicly-listed Australian firms. Based on a hand-collected sample of 203 publicly-listed Australian firms over the 2006–2009 period (812 firm-years), our regression results indicate that the thin capitalization position of firms is significantly and positively associated with multinationality, tax haven utilization, withholding taxes and tax uncertainty. Multinationality and the use of tax havens are, in particular, strongly associated with thin capitalization. Our additional regression results provide evidence that shows that corporate governance monitoring mechanisms relating to board of director independence, institutional ownership andbig-4 auditor utilization are significantly negatively associated with firms adopting thinly capitalized tax avoidance structures.