Submitted by: Submitted by aaspring
Views: 37
Words: 867
Pages: 4
Category: Business and Industry
Date Submitted: 01/14/2015 07:37 PM
ssTax Aggressiveness “Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in arranging one’s affairs so as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor, and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more taxes than the law demands. Taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions.” (Hand, 1947). It is this viewpoint that spurs management towards tax aggressive behavior. Tax aggressive behavior can be broken down into two main areas: 1) Reducing a company's effective tax rate; and 2) Increasing the amount of permanent differences between financial reported income and taxable income that is reported to the government. The benefit of tax aggressive behavior is ultimately to reduce a company’s tax liability. There are however many possible costs associated with this type of behavior that management must consider before acting. By engaging in tax aggressiveness a company exposes themselves to the potential threat of penalties from governing tax bodies for noncompliance to regulations (eg. IRS). The firm may also face both reputational and political costs by being labeled as a “poor corporate citizen” (Hanlon & Slemrod 2009). Tax aggressive behavior is typically viewed in a negative manner by the public. It is thought that news of these tactics first makes the public and their suppliers question whether the firm is dealing aggressively with all of their interactions. This in turn could result in those individuals becoming hesitant to continue dealing with the firm (Klein & Leffler, 1981). It also brings into question the possibility of undetected tax aggressive behavior, that if brought to light could result in prosecution and other associated costs (Desai & Dharmapala, 2009). Lastly if a firm is caught engaging in these tactics this could lead to a perception of management incompetence, “assuming that smart managers wouldn’t get caught” ...