Are Private Firms More Aggressive Tax Planners?

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hoopes, Jeffrey L.; Langetieg, Patrick T.; Maydew, Edward L.; Mullaney, Michele S.
• 署名单位: University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill; University of North Carolina School of Medicine; Indiana University System; IU Kelley School of Business; Indiana University Bloomington
• 刊物名称: ACCOUNTING REVIEW
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0001-4826
• DOI: 10.2308/TAR-2020-0499
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 197-223
• 关键词: us; OWNERSHIP; responses; LIFO

摘要

Drawing on confidential Internal Revenue Service (IRS) data, we examine whether privately held corporations are more aggressive tax planners than their publicly held peers. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we find no consistent evidence that private firms are more aggressive tax planners. We then examine whether private firms' tax planning differs from that of public firms more generally. We find that private firms engage in more conforming tax planning (planning that also reduces pretax accounting income). However, tests of nonconforming tax planning reveal that private firms generally engage in the same or less planning relative to their public peers. Overall, our findings cast doubt on the belief that private firms are generally more aggressive tax planners than are public firms, but confirm that they engage in more of some forms of general (i.e., conforming) planning.