The Relation Between Financial and Tax Reporting Measures of Income

We examine the magnitude and sources of difference between income for tax and financial reporting purposes using publicly available data from 1988 to 1998. We find evidence that the book-tax income spread has generally increased over time, but that a relatively small set of variables are able to explain this increase. We also find that these same variables explain a large percentage of the variation in the book-tax spread across firms. While neither supporting, nor disproving, the existence and growth in tax sheltering behavior, the results do suggest that financial statement-based measures of income have become less representative of firms' taxable income

The Relation Between Financial and Tax Reporting Measures of Income

We examine the magnitude and sources of difference between income for tax and financial reporting purposes using publicly available data from 1988 to 1998. We find evidence that the book-tax income spread has generally increased over time, but that a relatively small set of variables are able to explain this increase. We also find that these same variables explain a large percentage of the variation in the book-tax spread across firms. While neither supporting, nor disproving, the existence and growth in tax sheltering behavior, the results do suggest that financial statement-based measures of income have become less representative of firms' taxable income.

Tax Fairness And Effective Tax Rates: A Tale Of Two Industries

Industries with low effective tax rates could reasonably expect to suffer as a result of legislation designed to increase tax fairness. We analyzed ETRs in two such industries, banking and oil and gas, over a period of time that included two major tax law shifts. Our results suggest that legislation designed to promote tax fairness affects industries in an idiosyncratic manner

An Empirical Study of the Consequences of U.S. Tax Rules for International Acquisitions by U.S. Firms.

This article examines the effect of tax factors on the equity values of U.S. multinational corporations making foreign acquisitions. Abnormal stock returns are found to be related to a tax variable that captures differences in the international tax status of acquiring firms but not related to a naive tax variable that captures differences between tax rates in target countries and the United States. The authors' evidence suggests that aggregate intercountry differentials in after-tax returns are competed away, while firm-specific, tax-related advantages (or disadvantages) are reflected in abnormal returns around the announcement date of the acquisition. Copyright 1994 by American Finance Association.