Corporate taxes and the location of intangible assets within multinational firms

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dischinger, Matthias; Riedel, Nadine
• 署名单位: University of Oxford; University of Munich; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University Hohenheim
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2010.12.002
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 691-707
• 关键词: Multinational enterprise; Intangible assets; Tax planning; Micro data

摘要

Intangible assets, like patents and trademarks, are increasingly seen as the key to competitive success and as the drivers of corporate profit. Moreover, they constitute a major source of profit shifting opportunities in multinational enterprises (MNEs) due to a highly intransparent transfer pricing process. This paper argues that, for both reasons, MNEs have an incentive to locate intangible property at affiliates with a relatively low corporate tax rate. Using panel data on European MNEs and controlling for unobserved time-constant heterogeneity between affiliates, we find that the lower a subsidiary's corporate tax rate relative to other affiliates of the multinational group the higher is its level of intangible asset investment. This effect is statistically and economically significant, even after controlling for subsidiary size and accounting for a dynamic intangible investment pattern. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.