A Case for Company-Specific Public Disclosure of Corporate Tax Returns

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Morris
Keyword(s):  
Tax Reform ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Public Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fiduciary Responsibility ◽  
Tax Returns ◽  
Private Corporations

ABSTRACT Tax returns of both public and private corporations are protected from IRS disclosure by Internal Revenue Code §6103. Historically, most arguments against public disclosure of tax information were aimed at personal returns. This article evaluates arguments both opposing and favoring company-specific public disclosure of corporate tax returns, focusing on public companies and federal government contractors. Among reasons against disclosure are the fear that (1) it will add to, rather than reduce, confusion about corporate accounting and tax practices, (2) compliance will be reduced as companies seek to hide details of their revenue and expenses, and (3) proprietary information, including trade secrets, will be disclosed. Among reasons favoring disclosure are the (1) results of a national survey, (2) improvement of tax compliance, (3) limited value of privacy given that it does not cover disagreements with the IRS that wind up in court, (4) fiduciary responsibility corporations owe to the public, and (5) tendency of increased transparency to intensify public pressure for tax reform. Based on this analysis, it is argued that the benefits to be gained by increasing disclosure—especially encouraging tax reform—outweigh the objections raised, which either lack empirical basis or may be met with available remedies.

Corporate Tax Privacy and Human Rights

2019 ◽  
pp. 279-302
Author(s):  
Joshua D. Blank
Keyword(s):  
Tax Compliance ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Public Access ◽  
Tax Law ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
The Public ◽  
Tax Returns ◽  
The Government ◽  
Relationship Of

This chapter examines the relationship of corporate tax privacy and tax compliance from a new vantage point, which is called the “intercorporate perspective.” In the United States, all tax returns and return information of corporations are confidential. An unappreciated value of corporate tax privacy is that it can limit the pressure to pursue aggressive tax planning and reporting that corporate tax directors often face from significant shareholders, nontax managers, and even themselves. Corporate tax privacy provides the government with valuable strategic defenses by restraining the ability of a corporation’s stakeholders and agents to engage in “benchmarking” and “reverse engineering,” behaviors that would likely cause some tax directors to pursue more aggressive tax planning and reporting. Yet, at the same time, increased public access to certain corporate tax return information could enable the public to participate in informed debate and discussion of the corporate tax law and to question whether the governments is applying the tax law to corporate taxpayers effectively and fairly.

scholarly journals Covid-19 and corporate tax avoidance: Measuring long-run tax burdens as an alternative bailout test

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-244
Author(s):  
Subagio Efendi
Keyword(s):  
Financial Aid ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Tax Avoidance ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Total Sample ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Tax Returns ◽  
Avoidance Measures

This study fills the gap in the tax authority’s Covid-19 financial aid verifications by examining, and nominating, Long-run ETR (Dyreng et al., 2008) as the better corporate tax avoidance measure in excluding tax evader firms from the broad stimulus programs. Analysing confidential tax returns of 4,752 largest firms (32,120 firm-years) in Indonesia over 2009 to 2017 periods, this study found 18.12 percent of total sample firms is able to retain its Long-run ETR below 10 percent, which indicates continual tax avoidance activities by these firms during observation periods. Moreover, applying univariate and multivariate Ordinary Least Squares and Panel Data estimations, this study reveals, relative to other tax avoidance measures, Lagged Cash ETR (Lisowsky, 2010; Lisowsky et al., 2013) present the most consistent reliability in predicting long-run income tax burdens. Thus, this study asserts, in the conditions of computing Long-run ETR is costly and impractical (i.e. because of data unavailability), tax authority and policymakers can directly analyse firms’ Lagged Cash ETR to gauge their long-run income tax burdens and tax compliance behaviours prior the economic downturn. 

Voluntary Disclosure Responses to Mandated Disclosure: Evidence from Australian Corporate Tax Transparency

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison Kays
Keyword(s):  
Voluntary Disclosure ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Public Disclosure ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Public Firms ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Proprietary Costs ◽  
Tax Returns ◽  
Disclosure Responses ◽  
Reputational Costs

In order to deter aggressive tax planning, the Australian government mandated public disclosure of three line items from large corporations' tax returns. However, there is no evidence that the mandated disclosure led public firms to pay more taxes (Hoopes, Robinson, and Slemrod 2018). Instead, I find that firms strategically offset expected reputational costs by voluntarily issuing supplemental information. Specifically, when managers expect new reputational costs from the mandated tax return disclosure (wherein the disclosure reveals an unexpectedly low tax liability) and low proprietary costs from a supplemental voluntary disclosure (wherein the firm discloses its nonaggressive tax planning), firms are likely to voluntarily disclose information that both preempts and supplements the government's mandatory disclosure. Thus, when mandatory disclosures are incomplete, firms will voluntarily issue additional information to remain in control of their disclosure environments.

scholarly journals ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING REPORTED HOUSING MAINTENANCE COSTS IN SWEDEN’S PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RENTAL SECTORS

2017 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry Gonza MUYINGO
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Unit Area ◽  
Panel Data Analysis ◽  
Rental Housing ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
Maintenance Costs ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Rental Housing ◽  
Private And Public

The reported maintenance costs per unit area within the public rental housing sector in Sweden are consistently higher than those within the private rental sector. This paper uses crosssectional panel data analysis as well as a questionnaire survey sent to 196 managers in the private and public housing sectors to identify the factors that might explain this divergence. The findings indicate that “fundamental” factors such as the age of the houses or the composition of the tenants cannot explain the observed difference. However how the activities are classified and the timing of the measures are factors that can. The conclusions from the study are that the public companies should act more as the private sector in their accounting; wait longer than they currently do before carrying out some renovations; and that they should be more stringent when determining the resources to spend on large-scale maintenance and/or renovation projects.

The Role of Auditors, Non-Auditors, and Internal Tax Departments in Corporate Tax Aggressiveness

2015 ◽  
Vol 91 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J. Klassen ◽  
Petro Lisowsky ◽  
Devan Mescall
Keyword(s):  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Tax Planning ◽  
Internal Revenue Service ◽  
Corporate Tax ◽  
Tax Aggressiveness ◽  
Big 4 ◽  
Confidential Data ◽  
Tax Preparer ◽  
Tax Returns

ABSTRACT Using confidential data from the Internal Revenue Service on who signs a corporation's tax return, we investigate whether the party primarily responsible for the tax compliance function of the firm—the auditor, an external non-auditor, or the internal tax department—is related to the corporation's tax aggressiveness. We report three key findings: (1) firms preparing their own tax returns or hiring a non-auditor claim more aggressive tax positions than firms using their auditor as the tax preparer; (2) auditor-provided tax services are related to tax aggressiveness even after considering tax preparer identity, which supports and extends prior research using tax fees as a proxy for tax planning; and (3) Big 4 tax preparers, in particular, are linked to less tax aggressiveness when they are the auditor than when they are not the auditor. Our findings help policymakers and researchers better understand an important feature of tax compliance intermediaries; particularly, how the dual role via audits is related to observable corporate tax outcomes.

Public Agencies and Private Agencies

1924 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
James D. Barnett
Keyword(s):  
Public Agencies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Corporations ◽  
Public Corporation ◽  
Fundamental Distinction ◽  
Private Corporations ◽  
Legal Entities

Is there any fundamental distinction between so-called “public” and “private” agencies, officers, institutions, corporations, associations, persons—legal entities and quasi-entities of all sorts? It is the theory of the courts that such a distinction exists, but their attempts through a maze of decisions logically to establish a principle of distinction have been futile.Several bases of distinction have been adopted by the courts, including, first, the purpose or interest involved. “An office … seems to comprehend every charge or employment in which the public is interested.” Thus “private corporations are those which are created for the immediate benefit and advantage of individuals…. Public corporations are those which are created for public purposes.”However, it is held that the whole interest in the corporation must be public to make it a public corporation. “Public corporations are political corporations or such as are founded wholly for public purposes and the whole interest in which is in the public. The fact of the public having an interest in the works or property or the object of a corporation, does not make it a public corporation.”

5. Raising capital: equity and its consequences

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Dignam ◽  
John Lowry
Keyword(s):  
Stock Exchange ◽  
Listed Companies ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Insider Dealing ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Takeover Bids

Titles in the Core Text series take the reader straight to the heart of the subject, providing focused, concise, and reliable guides for students at all levels. This chapter focuses on raising equity from the general public and its consequences for the operation of the company. It begins by outlining the basics of raising equity before turning to the consequences of operating in a public market, with emphasis on areas such as takeovers and insider dealing. It then considers the distinction between public and private companies in terms of capital raising, how such companies are regulated, and how public companies differ from listed companies. It also discusses various methods of raising money from the public, the role of the Financial Conduct Authority and the London Stock Exchange in ensuring the proper functioning of the listed market in the UK, and the regulation of listed companies as well as takeovers and other public offers. The chapter concludes by examining the Takeovers Directive (Directive 2004/25/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of April 21, 2004 on Takeover Bids).

scholarly journals The Transformation of Public TV Companies into Digital Services at the BBC and RTVE

Comunicar ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (36) ◽  
pp. 87-94 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercedes Medina-Laverón ◽  
Teresa Ojer-Goñi
Keyword(s):  
New Media ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Public Companies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Media Companies ◽  
Public Media ◽  
Public Broadcasting Service ◽  
Nuevas Tecnologías ◽  
Public Tv

Some authors question the existence of public television companies in the new environment of digitalization, Internet proliferation, growing competition and audience segmentation. However, others believe they should act as a driving force in the process of convergence and even that the new media present an opportunity to redefine the public broadcasting service (PBS) remit. The current challenge for the public media companies is to deliver their content through the maximum number of devices, not only via television sets but also broadband and mobile devices. Over the years, the BBC has adapted to new market situations and has implemented solutions that have been adopted by other public and private broadcasters around the world. The objective of this article is to show how the BBC has taken up the leadership of transforming public TV companies into online services in order to maintain market share; and how it has influenced Spain’s public TV broadcaster, RTVE. The methodology is based on internal and external documents of both corporations, and the findings are complemented by interviews with online service managers at RTVE. We conclude that these public companies have adapted their activities to the new technologies and have developed interactive services to reinforce their public service mission.Algunas voces cuestionan la permanencia de las televisiones públicas en el nuevo entorno digital, caracterizado por una mayor presencia de Internet, más competidores y la fragmentación de la audiencia. Sin embargo, hay otros que creen que deberían actuar como una fuerza motriz en el proceso de convergencia e incluso que los nuevos medios representan una posibilidad de redefinir la misión de las televisiones públicas. El reto actual de las corporaciones públicas es proporcionar los contenidos a través del mayor número de soportes posibles, no solo a través de la televisión, sino también a través de Internet y dispositivos móviles. Un rasgo de la BBC es haberse adaptado siempre a los cambios del mercado y muchas de sus soluciones han sido transferidas a otras empresas de comunicación tanto públicas como privadas de todo el mundo. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar cómo la BBC es uno de los modelos en los que las empresas televisivas se han fijado para transformar sus servicios digitales a fin de mantener su existencia en el mercado, y conocer cuál ha sido su influencia en la televisión pública española RTVE. La metodología empleada radica en el análisis de los documentos internos y externos de las compañías y entrevistas realizadas a los responsables de los servicios digitales de RTVE. Las conclusiones apuntan a destacar que estas compañías han adaptado sus actividades a las nuevas tecnologías y han desarrollado servicios interactivos como refuerzo de su misión de servicio público.

scholarly journals Social Control through Public Disclosure on Tax: A New Approach to Enhance Tax Compliance

2021 ◽  
pp. 155
Author(s):  
Neni Susilawati ◽  
Vallencia Vallencia
Keyword(s):  
Social Control ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Tax Compliance ◽  
Public Disclosure ◽  
The Public ◽  
Cultural Character ◽  
The Government ◽  
Data Collection Technique ◽  
The Right ◽  
Naming And Shaming

The government always strives to boost tax revenue with various instruments and approaches, but the results are often not as expected. Of the various strategies, the tax payer- behavior approach is still rarely applied. The re-emergence of the issue of tax data publication through Pandora Paper after previously being surprised with the Panama Paper, is the right momentum to look back at tax transparency with the naming and shaming instrument. But before that, research is needed on whether the application of this approach is suitable to be applied in Indonesian society with a heterogeneous socio-cultural character. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to explore the level of social control of the community as an initial capital in implementing the public disclosure on tax in an effort to increase tax compliance. Quantitative approach was conducted with online survey as data collection technique. As the result, Indonesian people have strong social control, especially with the existence of social media. The majority of respondents support if the publication of tax data is applied. Public disclosure on tax has a significant role in shaping tax morals.

Civil Society, Corporate Accountability and the Politics of Climate Change

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 122-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Newell
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Corporate Accountability ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Civil Regulation ◽  
Contemporary Politics ◽  
Global Regime ◽  
Private Corporations ◽  
Private Actors

This article uses the lens of accountability to explore the shifting strategies of a range of civil society groups in their engagement with key actors in the global regime on climate change. It first reviews traditional strategies aimed at increasing the ‘public accountability’ of governments and UN bodies for agreed actions on climate change. This approach is then compared with the growing tendency to pursue the accountability of private corporations with respect to climate change. These strategies aim, among other things, to promote ‘civil regulation’: that is, governance of the private sector through civil society oversight. The final part of the article reflects on the possibilities and limitations of civil society actors performing such accountability roles in the contemporary politics of climate change and suggests key challenges for future climate advocacy. It argues that success in enhancing the accountability of public and private actors on the issue of climate change has been highly uneven and reflects both the effectiveness of the strategies adopted and the responsiveness of the target actors and institutions.

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