IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ausact/v33y2023i4p352-374.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax Haven Use and Related‐Party Transactions: Evidence from Australia

Author

Listed:
  • Abdullah Almutairi
  • Baban Eulaiwi
  • Robert Evans
  • Grantley Taylor

Abstract

Related‐party transactions (RPTs) and transfer pricing techniques are typically used by multinational enterprises to reduce their tax obligations by shifting the income to zero or to low‐tax countries. These techniques have thrived and have emerged as a significant concern for tax authorities. This study investigates the effect of tax haven utilisation on related‐party sales pricing in a sample of Australian listed firms. We find that tax haven use is positively and significantly associated with related‐party sales pricing. Moreover, we identify a positive and significant interaction between tax havens and earnings management with related‐party sales pricing. Ownership concentration and its interaction effect with tax havens are significant predictors of the increased use of related‐party sales pricing. Overall, the empirical findings demonstrate that earnings management, a high level of ownership concentration and the use of tax havens are substantial factors that enable firms to obtain tax benefits via the use of RPTs.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdullah Almutairi & Baban Eulaiwi & Robert Evans & Grantley Taylor, 2023. "Tax Haven Use and Related‐Party Transactions: Evidence from Australia," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 33(4), pages 352-374, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:33:y:2023:i:4:p:352-374
    DOI: 10.1111/auar.12413
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/auar.12413
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/auar.12413?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eulaiwi, Baban & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Dutta, Saurav & Duong, Lien & Richardson, Grant, 2021. "Tax haven Use, the pricing of audit and Non-audit Services, suspicious matters reporting obligations and whistle blower hotline Facilities: Evidence from Australian financial corporations," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    2. Doo, Seoyoung & Yoon, Sung-Soo, 2020. "Tax-motivated income shifting and board structure: Evidence from Korean business groups," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).
    3. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    4. Armstrong, Christopher S. & Blouin, Jennifer L. & Larcker, David F., 2012. "The incentives for tax planning," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 391-411.
    5. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    6. Mark Kohlbeck & Brian W. Mayhew, 2017. "Are Related Party Transactions Red Flags?," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(2), pages 900-928, June.
    7. Ziliang Deng & Jiayan Yan & Pei Sun, 2020. "Political Status and Tax Haven Investment of Emerging Market Firms: Evidence from China," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 165(3), pages 469-488, September.
    8. Thomas Tørsløv & Ludvig Wier & Gabriel Zucman, 2023. "The Missing Profits of Nations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 90(3), pages 1499-1534.
    9. Aharony, Joseph & Wang, Jiwei & Yuan, Hongqi, 2010. "Tunneling as an incentive for earnings management during the IPO process in China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 1-26, January.
    10. Gramlich, J.D.Jeffrey D. & Limpaphayom, Piman & Ghon Rhee, S., 2004. "Taxes, keiretsu affiliation, and income shifting," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 203-228, June.
    11. Gabriel Zucman, 2014. "Taxing across Borders: Tracking Personal Wealth and Corporate Profits," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 28(4), pages 121-148, Fall.
    12. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, December.
    13. Jacob, J, 1996. "Taxes and transfer pricing: Income shifting and the volume of intrafirm transfers," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 301-312.
    14. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    15. Alice Medioli & Stefano Azzali & Tatiana Mazza, 2022. "High ownership concentration and income shifting in multinational groups," Management Research Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 46(1), pages 82-99, February.
    16. Petr Janský & Alex Prats, 2015. "International Profit-Shifting out of Developing Countries and the Role of Tax Havens," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 33(3), pages 271-292, May.
    17. Audrey Wen-Hsin Hsu & Sophia Hsin-Tsai Liu & Siva Nathan, 2020. "Corporate organizational structure, tax havens and analyst forecast properties," Asia-Pacific Journal of Accounting & Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 24-50, January.
    18. Grahame Dowling, 2014. "The Curious Case of Corporate Tax Avoidance: Is it Socially Irresponsible?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 124(1), pages 173-184, September.
    19. Scott D. Dyreng & Bradley P. Lindsey, 2009. "Using Financial Accounting Data to Examine the Effect of Foreign Operations Located in Tax Havens and Other Countries on U.S. Multinational Firms' Tax Rates," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(5), pages 1283-1316, December.
    20. Wang, Kun & Xiao, Xing, 2011. "Controlling shareholders' tunneling and executive compensation: Evidence from China," Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(1), pages 89-100, January.
    21. Dharmapala, Dhammika & Hines Jr., James R., 2009. "Which countries become tax havens?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(9-10), pages 1058-1068, October.
    22. Mahmoud Agha, 2013. "Leverage, executive incentives and corporate governance," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(1), pages 1-30, March.
    23. Jones, Jj, 1991. "Earnings Management During Import Relief Investigations," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 193-228.
    24. Lisa De Simone & Lillian F. Mills & Bridget Stomberg, 2019. "Using IRS data to identify income shifting to foreign affiliates," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 694-730, June.
    25. Weichieh Su & Danchi Tan, 2018. "Business Groups and Tax Havens," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 153(4), pages 1067-1081, December.
    26. Jaafar, Aziz & Thornton, John, 2015. "Tax Havens and Effective Tax Rates: An Analysis of Private versus Public European Firms," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 435-457.
    27. Cheung, Yan-Leung & Rau, P. Raghavendra & Stouraitis, Aris, 2006. "Tunneling, propping, and expropriation: evidence from connected party transactions in Hong Kong," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 343-386, November.
    28. Anca D. Cristea & Daniel X. Nguyen, 2016. "Transfer Pricing by Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Foreign Firm Ownerships," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 170-202, August.
    29. Slemrod, Joel & Wilson, John D., 2009. "Tax competition with parasitic tax havens," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(11-12), pages 1261-1270, December.
    30. T. J. Atwood & Christina Lewellen, 2019. "The Complementarity between Tax Avoidance and Manager Diversion: Evidence from Tax Haven Firms," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 36(1), pages 259-294, March.
    31. El-Helaly, Moataz & Georgiou, Ifigenia & Lowe, Alan D., 2018. "The interplay between related party transactions and earnings management: The role of audit quality," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 47-60.
    32. Taylor, Grantley & Richardson, Grant, 2012. "International Corporate Tax Avoidance Practices: Evidence from Australian Firms," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 469-496.
    33. Peng, Winnie Qian & Wei, K.C. John & Yang, Zhishu, 2011. "Tunneling or propping: Evidence from connected transactions in China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 306-325, April.
    34. Richardson, Grant & Taylor, Grantley & Lanis, Roman, 2013. "Determinants of transfer pricing aggressiveness: Empirical evidence from Australian firms," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 136-150.
    35. Baban Eulaiwi & Ahmed Al‐Hadi & Lien Duong & Keira Clark & Grantley Taylor & Brian Perrin, 2022. "Audit pricing and corporate whistleblower governance: evidence from Australian financial firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2339-2384, June.
    36. Jiang, Guohua & Lee, Charles M.C. & Yue, Heng, 2010. "Tunneling through intercorporate loans: The China experience," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 1-20, October.
    37. DeFond, Mark L. & Jiambalvo, James, 1994. "Debt covenant violation and manipulation of accruals," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1-2), pages 145-176, January.
    38. Lim, Youngdeok, 2011. "Tax avoidance, cost of debt and shareholder activism: Evidence from Korea," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(2), pages 456-470, February.
    39. Md. Borhan Uddin Bhuiyan & Jamal Roudaki, 2018. "Related party transactions and finance company failure: New Zealand evidence," Pacific Accounting Review, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(2), pages 199-221, April.
    40. Can Tansel Kaya & Nida Turegun, 2017. "Associations between Earnings Management Manipulation Types and Debt Contracts, Political Costs and Characteristics of Board of Directors," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 7(2), pages 208-214, April.
    41. Dhammika Dharmapala, 2008. "What problems and opportunities are created by tax havens?," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(4), pages 661-679, winter.
    42. Michael Ryngaert & Shawn Thomas, 2012. "Not All Related Party Transactions (RPTs) Are the Same: Ex Ante Versus Ex Post RPTs," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(3), pages 845-882, June.
    43. Richardson, Grant & Taylor, Grantley, 2015. "Income Shifting Incentives and Tax Haven Utilization: Evidence from Multinational U.S. Firms," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 458-485.
    44. Grantley Taylor & Grant Richardson & Ross Taplin & Steven Cahan, 2015. "Determinants of tax haven utilization: evidence from Australian firms," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 55(2), pages 545-574, June.
    45. Hanlon, Michelle & Slemrod, Joel, 2009. "What does tax aggressiveness signal? Evidence from stock price reactions to news about tax shelter involvement," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(1-2), pages 126-141, February.
    46. Jean Jinghan Chen & Peng Cheng & Xinrong Xiao, 2011. "Related party transactions as a source of earnings management," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 165-181.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eulaiwi, Baban & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Taylor, Grantley & Dutta, Saurav & Duong, Lien & Richardson, Grant, 2021. "Tax haven Use, the pricing of audit and Non-audit Services, suspicious matters reporting obligations and whistle blower hotline Facilities: Evidence from Australian financial corporations," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    2. K. V. Mukundhan & Sreevas Sahasranamam & James J. Cordeiro, 2019. "Corporate investments in tax havens: evidence from India," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 18(5), pages 360-388, November.
    3. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2020. "Related Party Transactions, State Ownership, the Cost of Corporate Debt, and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints y5qj3, Center for Open Science.
    4. Wei Huang & Tingting Ying & Yun Shen, 2018. "Executive cash compensation and tax aggressiveness of Chinese firms," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1151-1180, November.
    5. Chen, Ching-Lung & Chen, Chung-Yu & Weng, Pei-Yu, 2020. "Do related party transactions always deteriorate earnings informativeness?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    6. Habib, Ahsan & Muhammadi, Abdul Haris & Jiang, Haiyan, 2017. "Political Connections and Related Party Transactions: Evidence from Indonesia," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 45-63.
    7. Mostafa Monzur Hasan & Ahsan Habib & Nurul Alam, 2021. "Asset Redeployability and Corporate Tax Avoidance," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 57(2), pages 183-219, June.
    8. Mohd Mohid Rahmat & Kamran Ahmed & Gerald J. Lobo, 2020. "Related Party Transactions, Value Relevance and Informativeness of Earnings: Evidence from Four Economies in East Asia," Review of Pacific Basin Financial Markets and Policies (RPBFMP), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(01), pages 1-42, March.
    9. Prianto Budi Saptono & Gustofan Mahmud & Intan Pratiwi & Dwi Purwanto & Ismail Khozen & Lambang Wiji Imantoro & Maria Eurelia Wayan, 2024. "Book-Tax Differences during the Crisis: Does Corporate Social Responsibility Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-38, August.
    10. Giovanna Gavana & Pietro Gottardo & Anna Maria Moisello, 2022. "Related Party Transactions and Earnings Management: The Moderating Effect of ESG Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-21, May.
    11. Guang-Zheng Chen, 2020. "Related Party Transactions and Opinion Shopping," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(1), pages 1-9.
    12. Eulaiwi, Baban & Khalaf, Nihad Shareef & Al-Hadi, Ahmed & Duong, Lien & Taylor, Grantley, 2024. "Money laundering governance and income shifting: Evidence from Australian financial institutions," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    13. Hasan, Iftekhar & Hoi, Chun Keung (Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2014. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: The effect of corporate tax avoidance on the cost of bank loans," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 109-130.
    14. Bansal, Shashank & Singh, Harminder, 2023. "Does market competition foster related party transactions? Evidence from emerging market," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    15. Dou, Huan & Liu, Yuanyuan & Shi, Yaru & Xu, Hanwen, 2022. "Are related-party transactions beneficial or detrimental in emerging markets? New evidence of financial services agreements from China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. El-Helaly, Moataz & Georgiou, Ifigenia & Lowe, Alan D., 2018. "The interplay between related party transactions and earnings management: The role of audit quality," Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 47-60.
    17. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2014_003 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. Cuili Qian & Heli Wang & Xuesong Geng & Yangxin Yu, 2017. "Rent appropriation of knowledge-based assets and firm performance when institutions are weak: A study of Chinese publicly listed firms," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 892-911, April.
    19. Shan, Yuan George, 2015. "Value relevance, earnings management and corporate governance in China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 186-207.
    20. Luo, Danglun & Piao, Zhirong & Wu, Cen & Zhang, Frank Feida, 2024. "Collateral damage: Evidence from share pledging in China," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    21. Col, Burcin & Errunza, Vihang, 2022. "Havenly acquisitions," Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ausact:v:33:y:2023:i:4:p:352-374. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=1035-6908 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.