Jost H. Heckemeyer

Meta-Analysis Of Economics Research Reporting Guidelines

Meta‐regression analysis (MRA) can provide objective and comprehensive summaries of economics research. Their use has grown rapidly over the last few decades. To improve transparency and to raise the quality of MRA, the meta‐analysis of economics research‐network (MAER‐Net) has created the below reporting guidelines. Future meta‐analyses in economics will be expected to follow these guidelines or give valid reasons why a meta‐analysis must deviate from them.

Capital structure choice and company taxation: A meta-study

This paper provides a quantitative review of the empirical literature on the tax impact on corporate debt financing. Synthesizing the evidence from 46 previous studies, we find that this impact is substantial. In particular, the tax rate proxy determines the outcome of primary analyses. Measures like the simulated marginal tax rate (Graham (1996a)) avoid a downward bias in estimates for the debt response to tax. Moreover, debt characteristics, econometric specifications, and the set of control-variables affect tax effects. Accounting for misspecification biases by means of meta-regressions, we predict a marginal tax effect on the debt ratio of 0.3.

Multinationals' profit response to tax differentials: Effect size and shifting channels

English Abstract: This paper provides a quantitative review of the empirical literature on profit�?shifting behaviour of multinational firms. We synthesize the evidence from 27 studies and find a substantial response of profit measures to international tax rate differentials. Accounting for confounding factors by means of meta�?regressions, we predict a tax semi�?elasticity of subsidiary pre�?tax profits of about 0.8. Moreover, we disentangle the tax response by means of financial planning from the transfer pricing and licensing channel. Back�?of�?the�?envelope calculations suggest that transfer pricing and licensing are the dominant profit�?shifting channels. French Abstract: La réponse des profits des firmes plurinationales aux fiscalités différentielles : taille de l’effet et canaux de déplacement du fardeau fiscal. Ce mémoire fournit une revue quantitative de la littérature empirique sur le comportement de déplacement des profits des firmes plurinationales. On synthétise les résultats de 27 études et on découvre qu’il existe une réponse substantielle des mesures de profit aux différentiels dans les taux d’imposition entre nations. Tenant compte des facteurs confusionnels grâce aux méta�?régressions, on prédit une semi�?élasticité des impôts des profits avant�?taxes des filiales de l’ordre de 0,8. De plus, on démêle la composante de la réponse fiscale attribuable à la planification financière de celle attribuable aux prix de cession interne et à la concession de licences. Des calculs préliminaires suggèrent que ce sont là les canaux principaux de déplacement des profits.

Profit Shifting and 'Aggressive' Tax Planning by Multinational Firms: Issues and Options for Reform

This paper discusses the issue of profit shifting and ‘aggressive’ tax planning by multinational firms. The paper makes two contributions. Firstly, we provide some background information to the debate by giving a brief overview over existing empirical studies on profit shifting and by describing arrangements for IP-based profit shifting which are used by the companies currently accused of avoiding taxes. We then show that preventing this type of tax avoidance is, in principle, straightforward. Secondly, we argue that, in the short term, policy makers should focus on extending withholding taxes in an internationally coordinated way. Other measures which are currently being discussed, in particular unilateral measures like limitations on interest and license deduction, fundamental reforms of the international tax system and country-by-country reporting, are either economically harmful or need to be elaborated much further before their introduction can be considered.

Impact of tax rate cut cum base broadening reforms on heterogeneous firms: Learning from the German tax reform 2008

The German corporate tax reform of 2008 has brought about important cuts in corporate tax rates, which were at the same time accompanied by significant changes in the determination of the tax base for both major German corporate taxes - corporate income tax and trade tax. The reform followed the distinct and internationally prevalent pattern of tax rate cut cum base broadening. Its implications are thus not unique to Germany. Especially in view of the current economic crisis, questions on the distribution of the tax burden among firms of different characteristics have arisen and still remain at the heart of the academic and political debate in Germany and other countries. In this paper we present a new corporate microsimulation model, ZEW TaxCoMM, which allows for the coherent micro-based analysis of revenue implications of tax reforms and the distribution of tax consequences among heterogeneous firms. The model processes firm-level financial accounting input data and derives the firm specific tax base and tax due endogenously in accordance with the tax code. To smooth out distortions between the sample and the population of German corporations, the sample is extrapolated on the basis of the corporate income tax statistic. The simulation results show inter alia that the average annual relief as measured by the average decline in the effective tax burden on cash flow amounts to 2.8 percentage points for large corporations and to 6 percentage points for small corporations. Furthermore, the results illustrate that firms with low profitability, high debt ratio and high capital intensity benefit least from the reform. As to tax revenues, the reform induced decrease amounts to € 9.8 billion and the trade tax gains fiscally in importance.

ZEW Corporate Taxation Microsimulation Model (ZEW TaxcoMM)

Current political discussions in Germany and other European countries illustrate the importance accorded to revenue and distribution effects of tax reforms. Whereas widely recognized concepts of effective tax measures can provide important insights into the incentives of taxation they do not allow robust revenue estimations or distribution analyses. Hence there is need to supplement existing quantitative tax models by approaches apt for these issues of policy analysis. Against this background, this paper puts forward a corporate microsimulation model allowing an ex-ante evaluation of tax reforms with regard to distributional consequences and revenue effects. Central feature of the model is the processing of financial statements included in the DAFNE data base of the Bureau van Dijk. The firm-level data is supplemented by survey data on tax accounting practices. The focus of the paper is on the documentation of the model set-up. Its application will be addressed in future publications.

Taxation and Corporate Debt; Are Banks any Different?

This paper explores whether corporate tax bias toward debt finance differs between banks and nonbanks, using a large panel of micro data. On average, it finds that there is no significant difference. The marginal tax effect for both banks and non-banks is close to 0.2. However, the responsiveness differs considerably across the size distribution and the conditional leverage distribution. For nonbanks, we find a U-shaped relationship between asset size and tax responsiveness, although this pattern does not hold universally across the conditional leverage distribution. For banks, in contrast, the tax responsiveness declines linearly in asset size. Quantile regressions show further that capitaltight banks are significantly less responsive than are capital-abundant banks; the same pattern holds for the largest non-banks. Still, even the largest banks with high conditional leverage ratios feature a significant, positive tax response.

Besteuerungsprinzipien und effektive Unternehmenssteuerbelastungen in der Europäischen Union: Regelt sich die EU-weite Steuerharmonisierung von selbst?

Abstract EU law demands that the allocation of factors and goods within the European Union shall not be distorted by taxes. Efforts to formally harmonize corporate tax regimes in Europe have, however, stalled in recent years. What is more, the source principle has prevailed over residence based taxation which is seen to be more in line with EU law. Tax induced distortions of cross-border investment decisions are supposed to be the consequence. Based on country-specific effective average tax rates from 1998 to 2009, this article shows that there is, however, non-coordinated convergence of tax burdens within the EU. Thus, distortions of cross-border investment decisions are limited and decreasing even without formal harmonization.

The effects of tax reforms to address the debt-equity bias on the cost of capital and on effective tax rates

[Main objectives] Corporate income tax systems usually discriminate between the different sources of finance: They favour debt over equity financing since interest costs are deductible for tax purposes whereas there is no equivalent relief for equity-financed investments. This unequal treatment might cause economic problems such as excessive leverage in the corporate sector and an associated increased vulnerability to economic crises, disadvantages for firms with restricted access to external funds and profit shifting incentives. To achieve an equal treatment of debt and equity financing, either an additional deduction for equity financing could be granted or the current deduction for interest expenses could be disallowed. A disallowance of interest expenses could be achieved by the interest deduction limitation rules which are already employed in several Member States. Other far-reaching, fundamental tax reforms to address the current debt bias are represented by the Comprehensive Business Income Tax (CBIT), Allowance for Corporate Equity (ACE), Allowance for Corporate Capital (ACC) and Cost of Capital Allowance (COCA). The present study provides an in-depth analysis of the effects of these different reform options on effective tax burdens in the EU28 Member States. Moreover, the study gives guidance to which extent current income tax rates at corporate and personal level would have to be adjusted for a revenue neutral implementation of fundamental tax reforms. On the basis of stylised model computations, this study informs about whether different fundamental tax reforms could, in principle, manage to address the debt bias and promote investment, possibly in a revenue neutral way. The main objectives of the study can be summarised as follows: * Analyse current interest deduction limitation rules in the EU28 Member States and assess the effect of interest deduction limitation rules on effective tax rates; * Provide insights on the effects of the fundamental tax reform options on current tax systems; * Consider a revenue-neutral implementation of the reforms and possible consequences for the level of investment in the EU28 Member States.

Tax Planning of R&D Intensive Multinationals

The allocation of management and control in the business decision process finds expression in the coordination intensity between agents in the firm. We develop and test a theory, based on the organizational design literature, for the intensity in which the tax department strives to coordinate with managers from other business units in order to intervene in investment decisions. Our theoretical considerations predict that R&D intensity is an important determinant of the tax departments role. Using data from a confidential survey taken in 2012 of top financial and tax managers of very large multinational companies, representing 8% of business R&D spending in the OECD, we indeed find supporting evidence that in R&D intensive multinational firms the tax department operates more as a controller than as a manager. In particular, tax departments of R&D intensive firms make less tax planning effort, are less ambitious to minimize the tax burden of the firm, are later involved in the decision-making process of a new investment project, but are more likely to have a veto right in the decision on a new investment project as compared to less R&D intensive firms. Conditional on R&D intensity, however, the level of intangible assets in the firm is associated with more tax planning efforts and ambitions. Our results are statistically significant and robust towards several sensitivity checks.