The Impact of IRS Audits on Tax Avoidance of U.S. Multinational Firms

美國政府稅務查核對美國跨國公司避稅行為之影響

10.6545/JFS.201909_27(3).0002

鄭羽婷(Yu-Ting Cheng)；高偉娟(Wei-Chuan Kao)；林世銘(Su-Ming Lin)

Tax avoidance ； IRS tax audits ； multinational companies ； income shifting ； 公司避稅 ； 稅務查核 ； 跨國公司 ； 所得移轉

財務金融學刊

27卷3期（2019 / 09 / 30）

41 - 73

英文

We examine the effect of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits on U.S. multinational companies (U.S. MNCs). We find the IRS audits positively affect U.S. MNCs' worldwide effective tax rate, suggesting that U.S. MNCs conduct less tax avoidance when expecting more IRS audits. Additionally, we find the IRS audits deter MNCs' domestic tax avoidance more than foreign tax avoidance. These results are robust using alternative IRS audits and tax avoidance variables. We also find the IRS audits reduce U.S. MNCs' income shifting. The evidence that the IRS audits reduce tax avoidance and income shifting remains consistent after using two-stage regressions.

本文探討美國政府稅務查核對美國跨國公司避稅行為之影響，發現稅務查核提高跨國公司的有效稅率，表示當跨國公司預期較多的稅務查核時，將減少避稅行為。本文亦發現稅務查核減少境內的避稅較境外避稅多，而且能減少跨國公司的所得移轉。無論採用其他的稅務查核與公司避稅變數，或採用二階迴歸式獲致之結果仍與原結果一致。

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