避稅行為與自願性稅務揭露程度之關聯─英國上市公司之實證分析

The Relation between Tax Avoidance and Voluntary Disclosures of Taxation─An Empirical Analysis of Listed Firms in United Kingdom

張智雅(Chih-Ya Chang)

指導教授 ： 高偉娟

共同指導教授 ： 林世銘(Su-Ming Lin)

國立臺灣大學/管理學院/會計學研究所/碩士(2016年)

https://doi.org/10.6342/NTU201600568

摘要

在既有文獻資料中，有關避稅行為與自願性稅務揭露關聯性之研究頗為稀少，其中自願性揭露之相關理論亦有多派見解。基於避稅行為的特質，本研究乃採取社會政治理論，並將自願性揭露定性為於企業社會責任報告書中所揭露的稅務資訊，藉以減少其他非自願性揭露因素所造成的雜訊干擾。本研究亦採用內容分析法，設計自願性稅務揭露之程度指標。利用2010至2014年剔除部分產業後的英國上市企業作為研究樣本，本研究之實證結果發現企業避稅與自願性稅務揭露程度存在著顯著正向關聯，此支持社會政治理論的解釋，亦顯示為了合理化避稅或為減緩利害關係人的不良觀感所造成政治成本與聲譽成本的增加，企業會自願性揭露更多的稅務資訊，藉以符合社會期待或改變社會的預期。由本研究之硬性資訊的研究結果亦可合理推論，由於政府及股東應更加信賴股東會年報、財報或稅務申報資料所提供的稅務資訊，因此，企業亦可藉由增加更多但不一定透明的自願性稅務揭露，來避免因隱藏資訊致受政府過多關注。

關鍵字

避稅行為 ； 自願性稅務揭露程度 ； 社會政治理論 ； 企業社會責任報告書 ； 內容分析法

並列摘要

Prior literature provides little evidence on the relationship between corporate tax avoidance and voluntary disclosures of taxation. Among various related theories about voluntary disclosure, this study adopts socio-political theories based on the characteristics of tax avoidance. To reduce the noise generated from sources of involuntary disclosure, this study focuses on the tax-related information disclosed in standalone corporate social responsibility reports, applying content analysis to develop the voluntary disclosure index of taxation. Using a sample of listed corporations in United Kingdom during 2010-2014, the empirical results reveal a positive association between corporate tax avoidance and voluntary disclosures of taxation, in support of socio-political theories. The results imply that in order to legitimate tax avoidance or alleviate the increase in the political and reputation cost induced by public concerns, business voluntarily disclose more tax-related information to meet or alter societal expectations. In view of the inference that Governments and shareholders have already relied on the tax-related information provided from annual reports, financial reporting or tax returns data, business could increase more but not unambiguous voluntary disclosures of taxation to prevent regulatory scrutiny.

並列關鍵字

Tax avoidance ； Voluntary disclosures of taxation ； Socio-political theories ； Corporate social responsibility reports ； Content analysis

參考文獻

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