Corporate marginal tax rate, tax loss carryforwards and investment functions: empirical analysis using a large German panel data set

This study is the first empirical analysis to investigate the relationship between the investment behaviour of firms resident in Germany and the empirically determined marginal tax rates developed by John R. Graham. It is based on the Bundesbank's corporate balance sheet statistics for the period 1971-2002. In an autoregressive distributed lag model, the marginal tax rate is shown to be significant, with an elasticity of between 0.1 and 0.2. An error correction model does not produce any plausible results for the marginal tax rate. Graham's marginal tax rates are a complement to the methods typically used to determine the effective marginal tax rates and effective average tax rates. --Corporate marginal tax rate,tax loss carryforward,investment behaviour

Who do you trust while Shares are on a Roler-Coaster Ride? Balance Sheet and Patent Data as Sources of Investor Information During Volatile Market Times

We originally investigate the comparative usefulness of patent data as a source of investor information depending on the market cycle (bull/bear market). Based on comprehensive data for firms listed on German exchanges between 1997 and 2002, we demonstrate that patent data contain complementary explanatory power to accounting data irrespective of the standard used to prepare the financial statement (German GAAP, IAS and US GAAP). Moreover, we provide original evidence that only patent data are able to provide plausible investor information in both bull-market and bear-market periods, whereas accounting information overvalues intangible assets in bull markets and undervalues them in bears.Investor information, market value, patents

Taxes and the Financial Structure of German Inward FDI

The paper analyses the financial structure of German inward FDI. From a tax perspective, intra-company loans granted by the parent should be all the more strongly preferred over equity the lower the tax rate of the parent and the higher the tax rate of the German affiliate. From our study of a panel of more than 8,000 non-financial affiliates in Germany, we find only small effects of the tax rate of the foreign parent. However, our empirical results show that subsidiaries that on average are profitable react more strongly to changes in the German corporate tax rate than this is the case for less profitable firms. This gives support to the frequent concern that high German taxes are partly responsible for the high levels of intra-company loans. Taxation, however, does not fully explain the high levels of intra-company borrowing. Roughly 60% of the cross-border intra-company loans turn out to be held by firms that are running losses.foreign direct investment, financial structure, taxation, Germany

Household's portfolio structure in Germany - analysis of financial accounts data 1959-2009

Based on a Financial Almost Ideal Demand System (FAIDS), this paper investigates the wealth structure of German households. The long-run wealth elasticities and interestrate elasticities were calculated using a unique new quarterly financial accounts macrodata set which covers the period from 1959 to 2009 and contains a portfolio of eight different financial assets. Descriptive analysis shows that all financial assets were characterized by substantial volatility of their weight in the portfolio of households. We found that portfolio shifts in the long run are determined significantly by changes in interest rates. The estimated model provides evidence that currency (and transferable deposits) is mainly a substitute for other assets and time deposits are typically a complement. Wealth elasticity is for most assets around unity. JEL Classification: E21, G11, C32financial wealth, household, portfolio structure

Comparing the value revelance of R&D reporting in Germany: standard and selection effects

On the basis of accounting and market data for firms and groups listed on German stock exchanges between 1997 and 2003, we show that the value relevance of R&D information under German accounting standards can be superior to that provided by US-GAAP and IAS. The results, obtained while dynamically controlling for partial freedom of firms to choose a standard in a modified Q model, show that the risk of IAS/US-GAAP misinforming investors during "bear market" periods is more relevant than their comparative advantage over the prudence principle of the German Commercial Code in "bull market" periods. Using the approach chosen for this study, it is possible not only to draw a clear dividing line between standard and selection effects but also to disentangle them along theoretical lines more clearly than in earlier studies. --Accounting standards,standard selection,R&D,value relevance,Germany

Finanzierungsstrukturen im Vergleich - Eine Analyse europäischer Unternehmen

Auch dreißig Jahre nach dem Artikel von Modigliani und Miller und zahllosen weiteren Veröffentlichungen ist die Frage zur Finanzierungsstruktur von Unternehmen weitgehend ungelöst. Dabei ist insbesondere in der empirischen Evidenz dieses Forschungsgebietes ein Defizit festzustellen. Unter Verwendung von Unternehmensdaten aus sieben europäischen Ländern werden in dieser Arbeit, für die beiden Rechtsformgruppen Aktiengesellschaften und Nicht-Aktiengesellschaften die Einflußfaktoren auf die Kapitalstruktur analysiert. Für die meisten der analysierten Länder - darunter Deutschland, Frankreich, Spanien und die Niederlande - können keine wesentlichen Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Determinanten der Kapitalstruktur von Aktiengesellschaften und Nicht-Aktiengesellschaften festgestellt werden. Nur in Großbritannien und Italien ließen sich erhebliche Unterschiede in den Einflußgrößen nachweisen

Finanzierungsstrukturen im Vergleich - Eine Analyse europäischer Unternehmen -

Auch dreißig Jahre nach dem Artikel von Modigliani und Miller und zahllosen weiteren Veröffentlichungen ist die Frage zur Finanzierungsstruktur von Unternehmen weitgehend ungelöst. Dabei ist insbesondere in der empirischen Evidenz dieses Forschungsgebietes ein Defizit festzustellen. Unter Verwendung von Unternehmensdaten aus sieben europäischen Ländern werden in dieser Arbeit, für die beiden Rechtsformgruppen Aktiengesellschaften und Nicht- Aktiengesellschaften die Einflußfaktoren auf die Kapitalstruktur analysiert. Für die meisten der analysierten Länder - darunter Deutschland, Frankreich, Spanien und die Niederlande - können keine wesentlichen Unterschiede hinsichtlich der Determinanten der Kapitalstruktur von Aktiengesellschaften und Nicht-Aktiengesellschaften festgestellt werden. Nur in Großbritannien und Italien ließen sich erhebliche Unterschiede in den Einflußgrößen nachweisen. -- Thirty years after the seminal work of Modigliani and Miller and countless articles the capital structure puzzle is for the most part unsolved. Especially, in this field of research there is a considerable lack of empirical evidence. Using firm level data from seven European countries, this paper tries to analyze differences in the determinants of capital structure due to legal forms. For the most countries, including Germany, France, Spain, and the Netherland, legal form exerts only a slight impact on the determinants of capital structure. In contrast, only in the UK, and Italy there are considerable effects of legal form on financing patterns. Taken together, earlier empirical evidence for stock market firms seems to hold for other legal forms.Kapitalstruktur,Finanzierung,Finanzierungsrestriktionen,Bankensystem

Taxes and the financial structure of German inward FDI

The paper analyses the financial structure of German inward FDI. From a tax perspective, intra-company loans granted by the parent should be all the more strongly preferred over equity the lower the tax rate of the parent and the higher the tax rate of the German affiliate. From our study of a panel of more than 8,000 non-financial affiliates in Germany, we find only small effects of the tax rate of the foreign parent. However, our empirical results show that subsidiaries that on average are profitable react more strongly to changes in the German corporate tax rate than this is the case for less profitable firms. This gives support to the frequent concern that high German taxes are partly responsible for the high levels of intra-company loans. Taxation, however, does not fully explain the high levels of intra-company borrowing. Roughly 60% of the cross-border intra-company loans turn out to be held by firms that are running losses. --foreign direct investment,financial structure,taxation

Empirical analysis on corporate taxation

Die Unternehmensbesteuerung ist eines der Instrumentarien das im Wettbewerb um den mobilen Faktor Kapital von den Industriestaaten eingesetzt wird. Hinsichtlich der wissenschaftlichen Forschung, die den Zusammenhang zwischen der Unternehmensbesteuerung und dem unternehmerischen Kapitalstock untersucht, ist mittlerweile eine beträchtliche Zahl von Literatur entstanden. Aus der vorhandenen Literatur sind jedoch zwei Schwächen zu erkennen. Erstens basieren viele der empirischen Analysen auf makroökonomischen Zeitreihendaten und zweitens finden vor allem Reduzierte-Form-Modelle Anwendung. Die vorliegende Dissertation gliedert sich in die Reihe empirischer Arbeiten unter Verwendung von Mikrodaten ein, die Aspekte der Unternehmensbesteuerung untersuchen. Die Arbeiten liefern einen Beitrag zum tieferen Verständnis aus den Teilbereichen der Finanzierunkstruktur, der gemeinsamen Bemessungsgrundlage sowie der Messung der marginalen Steuerbelastung. Dabei konzentrieren sich die Analysen auf die Aktivitäten deutscher Unternehmen im In- und Ausland sowie ausländischer Unternehmen in Deutschland. Grundlage der empirischen Untersuchungen sind vor allem vertrauliche Mikrodaten der Deutschen Bundesbank. Im Rahmen der deskriptiven und multivariaten Analyse werden Hinweise für den Zusammenhang zwischen der Besteuerung und dem unternehmerischen verhalten nachgewiesen. Damit dienen die Resultate auch als Diskussionsgrundlage für die Ausgestaltung künftiger Steuerpolitik in Deutschland und der EU.Corporate taxation is an instrument in the competition on the mobile factor capital which industrial countries using. Regarding the research, which examines the nexus between the corporate taxation and the firm's capital stock, meanwhile a considerable number of literatures developed. From the existing literature however two weaknesses are to be recognised. First of all many of the empirical analyses based on macro-economic time series data and secondly typically reduced from models were used. The present dissertation is integrated into the number of empirical work using micro data sets, which aspects of the corporate taxation examine. The analysis provides a contribution to the deeper understanding of the financial structure, the common tax base as well as the measurement of the marginal tax burden. The analyses concentrate on the activities of German companies (domestic and foreign direct investment) as well as foreign companies in Germany. The empirical investigations based mostly on confidential micro data sets of the German Central Bank. The descriptive and multivariate analysis show some hints for the nexus between corporate taxation and firm's behaviour. All results provide a discussion basis for the tax policy in Germany and the EU

Wirkungen einer EU-weiten Verlustverrechnung auf das Steueraufkommen

Seit einigen Jahren stellt der Europäische Gerichtshof vermehrt Regelungen der nationalen Steuersysteme in Hinblick darauf in Frage, ob sie mit dem EG-Recht konform gehen. Im aktuellen Fall Marks & Spencer entscheidet der Gerichtshof, ob Konzerne Verluste ausländischer Töchter mit inländischen Gewinnen verrechnen dürfen. Welche Wirkung hätte eine EU-weite Verlustverrechnung auf das deutsche Steueraufkommen? --