Profit shifting in Brazil and the impact of tax havens

ABSTRACT We investigate tax-induced profit shifting in Brazil and the impact of tax havens on the shifting behavior of firms. Profit shifting research in Brazil is virtually non-existent, although the shifting incentives in Brazil are prominent. Our research fills this gap with evidences in the nove...

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書目詳細資料
發表在:Revista Contabilidade & Finanças
主要作者: Alex A. T. Rathke
格式: Article
語言:英语
出版: Universidade de São Paulo 2020-05-01
主題:
在線閱讀:http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-70772021000100095&tlng=en
實物特徵
總結:ABSTRACT We investigate tax-induced profit shifting in Brazil and the impact of tax havens on the shifting behavior of firms. Profit shifting research in Brazil is virtually non-existent, although the shifting incentives in Brazil are prominent. Our research fills this gap with evidences in the novel Brazilian context. Profit shifting is a tax-minimization strategy where multinational enterprises perform intra-firm transactions to allocate taxable profits to low-tax locations. Brazil combines a remarking set of profit shifting incentives, especially a high corporate tax rate, extremely complex tax system, and distinguished transfer pricing rules. Further researches may leverage from the shifting incentives in Brazil, since it provides opportunities to investigate additional factors that affect the shifting behavior of firms. We analyze 989 transaction-by-country observations for the period of 2010-2017. Baseline analysis follows the robust least squares approach with controlling covariates. Linear estimate model derives from the conventional Cobb-Douglas production function, to analyze the impact of shifting incentives on profit maximization. We find that Brazilian firms have a high level of intra-firm transactions with related parties located in low-tax countries, especially with tax havens. It represents a strong evidence of profit shifting behavior in Brazilian firms.
ISSN:1808-057X