This study investigates biases in tax decisions. In a series of four laboratory experiments with 303 students and 62 tax professionals, we document a systematic tax-rate bias in decisions under time constraints. Specifically, decision-makers overestimate the relevance of less complex tax-rate information compared to more complex tax-base information. This behavior leads to suboptimal tax decisions. We also find that decision-making, on average, is unaffected by professional experience: students and tax professionals are similarly prone to tax-rate bias. However, senior tax professionals are more rationally inattentive. These decision-makers are less likely to exhibit a tax-rate bias when exhibiting such bias is relatively costly. Overall, our findings suggest that resource constraints impede the use of complex tax-base information, which results in suboptimal tax decisions. Interviews with senior tax professionals indicate potential for tax-rate biases in real-world tax decisions and thereby provide directions for future research.
{"title":"Tax-Rate Biases in Tax Decisions: Experimental Evidence","authors":"H. Amberger, Eva Eberhartinger, M. Kasper","doi":"10.2308/jata-2020-019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-2020-019","url":null,"abstract":"This study investigates biases in tax decisions. In a series of four laboratory experiments with 303 students and 62 tax professionals, we document a systematic tax-rate bias in decisions under time constraints. Specifically, decision-makers overestimate the relevance of less complex tax-rate information compared to more complex tax-base information. This behavior leads to suboptimal tax decisions. We also find that decision-making, on average, is unaffected by professional experience: students and tax professionals are similarly prone to tax-rate bias. However, senior tax professionals are more rationally inattentive. These decision-makers are less likely to exhibit a tax-rate bias when exhibiting such bias is relatively costly. Overall, our findings suggest that resource constraints impede the use of complex tax-base information, which results in suboptimal tax decisions. Interviews with senior tax professionals indicate potential for tax-rate biases in real-world tax decisions and thereby provide directions for future research.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44131193","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Discussion of Dhaliwal, Goodman, Hoffman, and Schwab (2019): Revisiting Tax-Related Reputational Costs","authors":"Allison Koester","doi":"10.2308/atax-10773","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/atax-10773","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42440200","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Book Review","authors":"Stanley Veliotis","doi":"10.2308/atax-10782","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/atax-10782","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41532124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brooke D. Beyer, Jimmy F. Downes, Mollie E. Mathis, Eric T. Rapley
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) dramatically changed U.S. taxation of foreign earnings for U.S. multinational companies (MNCs). Specifically, the TCJA required taxation of existing unremitted foreign earnings through a deemed repatriation and effectively eliminated future repatriation taxes through a 100 percent dividends received deduction. Additionally, the bill introduced the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) regime. We examine MNCs’ responses to the TCJA and find that spending and investment behavior depends on liquidity, investment opportunities, and borrowing costs. Domestic capital expenditures and share repurchases increased for MNCs with low domestic liquidity and high domestic investment opportunities. In contrast, MNCs with low domestic liquidity (high cost of debt) and low domestic investment opportunities increased dividends (decreased debt). Finally, we find that MNCs with high foreign cash and most vulnerable to the GILTI regime increased their foreign but not domestic capital expenditures—a potential unintended consequence.
{"title":"U.S. Multinational Companies’ Payout and Investment Decisions in Response to International Tax Provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017","authors":"Brooke D. Beyer, Jimmy F. Downes, Mollie E. Mathis, Eric T. Rapley","doi":"10.2308/jata-2020-037","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-2020-037","url":null,"abstract":"The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (TCJA) dramatically changed U.S. taxation of foreign earnings for U.S. multinational companies (MNCs). Specifically, the TCJA required taxation of existing unremitted foreign earnings through a deemed repatriation and effectively eliminated future repatriation taxes through a 100 percent dividends received deduction. Additionally, the bill introduced the global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) regime. We examine MNCs’ responses to the TCJA and find that spending and investment behavior depends on liquidity, investment opportunities, and borrowing costs. Domestic capital expenditures and share repurchases increased for MNCs with low domestic liquidity and high domestic investment opportunities. In contrast, MNCs with low domestic liquidity (high cost of debt) and low domestic investment opportunities increased dividends (decreased debt). Finally, we find that MNCs with high foreign cash and most vulnerable to the GILTI regime increased their foreign but not domestic capital expenditures—a potential unintended consequence.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43787772","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Research generally finds positive audit and tax outcomes associated with auditor-provided tax services (APTS), attributing knowledge sharing (KS) between tax and audit as the underlying cause, but not observing it. This study contributes to the APTS literature by investigating experienced audit and tax professionals’ perspectives about when and how KS occurs. Results imply that KS occurs in two phases, and is enhanced or inhibited by multiple factors related to knowledge relevance, motivation, opportunities, and culture. First, audit and tax personnel often share client information and their domain expertise while interacting during the audit, which enables identifying potentially valuable APTS. Second, further KS can occur during/following APTS performance, and APTS results may be shared back to benefit the audit. Our evidence shows that key factors may vary across phases, underscoring the importance of considering the full APTS process. Based on our findings, we suggest a number of future research opportunities.
{"title":"Knowledge Sharing in Auditor-Provided Tax Services: Experiences of Audit and Tax Personnel","authors":"C. Hux, J. Bedard, Tracy J. Noga","doi":"10.2308/jata-19-031","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-19-031","url":null,"abstract":"Research generally finds positive audit and tax outcomes associated with auditor-provided tax services (APTS), attributing knowledge sharing (KS) between tax and audit as the underlying cause, but not observing it. This study contributes to the APTS literature by investigating experienced audit and tax professionals’ perspectives about when and how KS occurs. Results imply that KS occurs in two phases, and is enhanced or inhibited by multiple factors related to knowledge relevance, motivation, opportunities, and culture. First, audit and tax personnel often share client information and their domain expertise while interacting during the audit, which enables identifying potentially valuable APTS. Second, further KS can occur during/following APTS performance, and APTS results may be shared back to benefit the audit. Our evidence shows that key factors may vary across phases, underscoring the importance of considering the full APTS process. Based on our findings, we suggest a number of future research opportunities.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2022-02-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49601701","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jennifer L. Brown, K. Lin, Jared Moore, Laura A. Wellman
This study examines the impact of tax policy uncertainty (TPU) on analysts' forecasts and managers' interim estimates of effective tax rates (ETRs). We adopt a broad definition of TPU that encompasses both the legislative and regulatory processes and perform tests to validate a news-based measure of TPU consistent with our definition. We document that 1) analysts' implied ETR forecasts are less accurate and more disperse during periods of high TPU, 2) managers' ETR estimates are less accurate during periods of high TPU, and 3) the presence of relatively inaccurate management ETR estimates strengthens the effects of TPU on analysts' ETR forecasts. We further find that firm-level tax-related complexity exacerbates the effects of TPU on analysts' and managers' ETR predictions. Overall, our results are consistent with uncertainty surrounding tax policy impairing analysts' and managers' ability to assess and predict future tax-related fundamentals, thus imposing real costs on managers and market participants.
{"title":"The impact of tax policy uncertainty on forecasting","authors":"Jennifer L. Brown, K. Lin, Jared Moore, Laura A. Wellman","doi":"10.2308/jata-19-014","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-19-014","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines the impact of tax policy uncertainty (TPU) on analysts' forecasts and managers' interim estimates of effective tax rates (ETRs). We adopt a broad definition of TPU that encompasses both the legislative and regulatory processes and perform tests to validate a news-based measure of TPU consistent with our definition. We document that 1) analysts' implied ETR forecasts are less accurate and more disperse during periods of high TPU, 2) managers' ETR estimates are less accurate during periods of high TPU, and 3) the presence of relatively inaccurate management ETR estimates strengthens the effects of TPU on analysts' ETR forecasts. We further find that firm-level tax-related complexity exacerbates the effects of TPU on analysts' and managers' ETR predictions. Overall, our results are consistent with uncertainty surrounding tax policy impairing analysts' and managers' ability to assess and predict future tax-related fundamentals, thus imposing real costs on managers and market participants.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2021-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48096705","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Limited empirical evidence exists regarding investor perceptions of tax management and whether investors consider paying taxes a social responsibility. To fill this gap, we use an experiment to explore investor perceptions about the corporate duty to pay or minimize taxes. We find that investors view paying taxes (rather than minimizing taxes) as socially responsible. We also measure participants’ attitudes about the corporate duty to pay or minimize taxes and find that participants lean more towards a view that corporations have a duty to pay taxes. In a path analysis, we find that a firm’s tax management and its performance in a non-tax area of CSR both influence investors’ perceptions of managerial quality that ultimately impacts investors’ willingness to invest. We also find that the investor’s attitude about the corporate tax duty moderates the association between tax management and investor perceptions of the quality of managerial decision-making.
{"title":"Corporate Social Responsibility and Tax Management: The Moderating Effect of Beliefs about Corporate Tax Duty","authors":"A. Davis, Rebekah D. Moore, T. Rupert","doi":"10.2308/jata-2020-040","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-2020-040","url":null,"abstract":"Limited empirical evidence exists regarding investor perceptions of tax management and whether investors consider paying taxes a social responsibility. To fill this gap, we use an experiment to explore investor perceptions about the corporate duty to pay or minimize taxes. We find that investors view paying taxes (rather than minimizing taxes) as socially responsible. We also measure participants’ attitudes about the corporate duty to pay or minimize taxes and find that participants lean more towards a view that corporations have a duty to pay taxes. In a path analysis, we find that a firm’s tax management and its performance in a non-tax area of CSR both influence investors’ perceptions of managerial quality that ultimately impacts investors’ willingness to invest. We also find that the investor’s attitude about the corporate tax duty moderates the association between tax management and investor perceptions of the quality of managerial decision-making.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2021-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43504973","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Big data analytics could be a panacea for the IRS by enabling creation of taxpayer profiles to better capture noncompliance using artificial intelligence and machine learning, requiring fewer costly manpower hours. Privacy, fair information practices, and embedded biases are critiques of such practices, and it is unknown how taxpayers will respond. Deterrence theory suggests improved audit effectiveness will increase compliance but excludes elements of tax morale, including perceived fairness. We find evidence supporting a moderated mediation model where procedural fairness mediates the relationship between audit procedures and tax compliance, moderated by participatory monitoring, which captures how effects vary when taxpayers willingly increase traceability of their income by advertising online. When taxpayers advertise business online, use of advanced technologies in audit selection significantly increases compliance with no significant effect on perceived fairness; when they do not, use of advanced technologies has no effect on compliance, but significantly decreases perceived fairness.
{"title":"Big Data Analytics in IRS Audit Procedures and Its Effects on Tax Compliance: A Moderated Mediation Analysis","authors":"Eric J. Neuman, Robert J. Sheu","doi":"10.2308/jata-2020-038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-2020-038","url":null,"abstract":"Big data analytics could be a panacea for the IRS by enabling creation of taxpayer profiles to better capture noncompliance using artificial intelligence and machine learning, requiring fewer costly manpower hours. Privacy, fair information practices, and embedded biases are critiques of such practices, and it is unknown how taxpayers will respond. Deterrence theory suggests improved audit effectiveness will increase compliance but excludes elements of tax morale, including perceived fairness. We find evidence supporting a moderated mediation model where procedural fairness mediates the relationship between audit procedures and tax compliance, moderated by participatory monitoring, which captures how effects vary when taxpayers willingly increase traceability of their income by advertising online. When taxpayers advertise business online, use of advanced technologies in audit selection significantly increases compliance with no significant effect on perceived fairness; when they do not, use of advanced technologies has no effect on compliance, but significantly decreases perceived fairness.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2021-08-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49559581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Recent accounting research suggests that individual executives play a significant role in shaping a firm's tax planning. Building on psychology research that finds sports interests reflect an individual's risk-taking preferences, we develop a novel measure of innate and non-pecuniary CEO risk attitudes based on the riskiness of CEOs' sports hobbies and examine whether the measure is associated with corporate tax aggressiveness. We find that firms managed by CEOs with riskier sports hobbies are more aggressive in their tax planning. This association is more pronounced for CEOs with greater financial incentives and greater power in making decisions. Our results are robust to using alternative measures of CEO sports risks, and after accounting for the self-selection of the disclosure of CEO sports hobbies.
{"title":"CEO Sports Hobby and Firms' Tax Aggressiveness","authors":"S. Luo, T. Shevlin, Lirong Shi, Aimee Shih","doi":"10.2308/jata-19-038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/jata-19-038","url":null,"abstract":"Recent accounting research suggests that individual executives play a significant role in shaping a firm's tax planning. Building on psychology research that finds sports interests reflect an individual's risk-taking preferences, we develop a novel measure of innate and non-pecuniary CEO risk attitudes based on the riskiness of CEOs' sports hobbies and examine whether the measure is associated with corporate tax aggressiveness. We find that firms managed by CEOs with riskier sports hobbies are more aggressive in their tax planning. This association is more pronounced for CEOs with greater financial incentives and greater power in making decisions. Our results are robust to using alternative measures of CEO sports risks, and after accounting for the self-selection of the disclosure of CEO sports hobbies.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2021-07-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42735965","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Andrew D. Cuccia, Marcus M. Doxey, Shane R. Stinson
We investigate whether and how the structure of retirement savings incentives influences their relative attractiveness to taxpayers, independent of their effect on after-tax returns. To that end, we examine taxpayers’ preferences between defined contribution retirement plans with back-loaded (i.e., Roth) and front-loaded (i.e., traditional) tax incentives. In three experiments, we find limited evidence that individuals appropriately weight temporal tax rate changes, the primary factor differentiating after-tax returns across incentive structures, in their plan preferences. In contrast, we find consistent evidence that the incentive structure’s relation to taxpayers’ broader attitudes and preferences significantly impacts plan preferences. Overall, we find evidence that generally held attitudes and preferences lead to a systematic preference for back-loaded retirement plans even in situations in which taxpayers know that a back-loaded plan is economically dominated by a front-loaded plan. The results have implications for policymakers and others considering how best to encourage retirement savings.
{"title":"The Impact of Tax Incentive Structure On Taxpayers’ Retirement Savings Decisions","authors":"Andrew D. Cuccia, Marcus M. Doxey, Shane R. Stinson","doi":"10.2308/JATA-2020-001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2308/JATA-2020-001","url":null,"abstract":"We investigate whether and how the structure of retirement savings incentives influences their relative attractiveness to taxpayers, independent of their effect on after-tax returns. To that end, we examine taxpayers’ preferences between defined contribution retirement plans with back-loaded (i.e., Roth) and front-loaded (i.e., traditional) tax incentives. In three experiments, we find limited evidence that individuals appropriately weight temporal tax rate changes, the primary factor differentiating after-tax returns across incentive structures, in their plan preferences. In contrast, we find consistent evidence that the incentive structure’s relation to taxpayers’ broader attitudes and preferences significantly impacts plan preferences. Overall, we find evidence that generally held attitudes and preferences lead to a systematic preference for back-loaded retirement plans even in situations in which taxpayers know that a back-loaded plan is economically dominated by a front-loaded plan. The results have implications for policymakers and others considering how best to encourage retirement savings.","PeriodicalId":45477,"journal":{"name":"Journal of the American Taxation Association","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2021-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42461004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：