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Tax‐Efficient Asset Management: Evidence from Equity Mutual Funds

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  • CLEMENS SIALM
  • HANJIANG ZHANG

Abstract

We investigate the relation between tax burdens and mutual fund performance from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. The theoretical model introduces heterogeneous tax clienteles in an environment with decreasing returns to scale and shows that the equilibrium performance of mutual funds depends on the size of the tax clienteles. Our empirical results show that the performance of U.S. equity mutual funds is related to their tax burdens. We find that tax‐efficient funds exhibit not only superior after‐tax performance, but also superior before‐tax performance due to lower trading costs, favorable style exposures, and better selectivity.

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  • Clemens Sialm & Hanjiang Zhang, 2020. "Tax‐Efficient Asset Management: Evidence from Equity Mutual Funds," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 75(2), pages 735-777, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jfinan:v:75:y:2020:i:2:p:735-777
    DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12843
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    2. Gjergji Cici & Alexander Kempf & Christoph Sorhage, 2017. "Do Financial Advisors Provide Tangible Benefits for Investors? Evidence from Tax-Motivated Mutual Fund Flows," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(2), pages 637-665.
    3. Liqun Liu & Zijun Wang, 2020. "Tax avoidance and asset returns: some theoretical results on the tax clientele effects," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(1), pages 41-49.
    4. Kontoghiorghes, Alex, 2022. "Do personal taxes affect investment decisions and stock returns?," Bank of England working papers 988, Bank of England.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G18 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • G23 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Non-bank Financial Institutions; Financial Instruments; Institutional Investors
    • G28 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • H2 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue
    • H22 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Incidence
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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