IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v16y2010i5p637-654.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The effect of taxes on multinational debt location

Author

Listed:
  • Arena, Matteo P.
  • Roper, Andrew H.

Abstract

We provide new evidence that differences in international tax rates and tax regimes affect multinational firms' debt location decisions. Our sample contains 8287 debt issues from 2437 firms headquartered in 23 different countries with debt-issuing subsidiaries in 59 countries. We analyze firms' marginal decisions of where to issue debt to investigate the influence of a comprehensive set of tax-related effects, including differences in personal and corporate tax rates, tax credit and exemption systems, and bi-lateral cross-country withholding taxes on interest and dividend payments. Our results show that differences in personal and corporate tax rates, the presence of dividend imputation or relief tax systems, the tax treatment of repatriated profits, and inter-country withholding taxes on dividends and interest significantly influence the decision of where to locate debt and the proportion of debt located abroad. Our results are robust to firm and issue specific factors and to the effect of legal regimes, debt market development, and exchange rate risk.

Suggested Citation

  • Arena, Matteo P. & Roper, Andrew H., 2010. "The effect of taxes on multinational debt location," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(5), pages 637-654, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:16:y:2010:i:5:p:637-654
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929-1199(10)00055-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc & Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2008. "Capital structure and international debt shifting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 80-118, April.
    2. Matteo P. Arena & John S. Howe, 2009. "Takeover Exposure, Agency, And The Choice Between Private And Public Debt," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 199-230, June.
    3. Denis, David J. & Mihov, Vassil T., 2003. "The choice among bank debt, non-bank private debt, and public debt: evidence from new corporate borrowings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 3-28, October.
    4. MacKie-Mason, Jeffrey K, 1990. "Do Taxes Affect Corporate Financing Decisions?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1471-1493, December.
    5. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    6. Henderson, Brian J. & Jegadeesh, Narasimhan & Weisbach, Michael S., 2006. "World markets for raising new capital," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 63-101, October.
    7. Kim, Yong-Cheol & Stulz, Rene M, 1992. "Is There a Global Market for Convertible Bonds?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 65(1), pages 75-91, January.
    8. Eugene F. Fama, 2002. "Testing Trade-Off and Pecking Order Predictions About Dividends and Debt," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 15(1), pages 1-33, March.
    9. Berkowitz, Daniel & Pistor, Katharina & Richard, Jean-Francois, 2003. "Economic development, legality, and the transplant effect," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 165-195, February.
    10. Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1998. "Law and Finance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(6), pages 1113-1155, December.
    11. Chowdhry, Bhagwan & Nanda, Vikram, 1994. "Financing of multinational subsidiaries: Parent debt vs. external debt," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 1(2), pages 259-281, August.
    12. Laurence Booth & Varouj Aivazian & Asli Demirguc‐Kunt & Vojislav Maksimovic, 2001. "Capital Structures in Developing Countries," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 56(1), pages 87-130, February.
    13. George Allayannis & Gregory W. Brown & Leora F. Klapper, 2003. "Capital Structure and Financial Risk: Evidence from Foreign Debt Use in East Asia," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(6), pages 2667-2710, December.
    14. Harvey, Campbell R. & Lins, Karl V. & Roper, Andrew H., 2004. "The effect of capital structure when expected agency costs are extreme," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 3-30, October.
    15. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    16. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:6:p:2451-2487 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Bartram, Söhnke M. & Brown, Gregory W. & Minton, Bernadette A., 2010. "Resolving the exposure puzzle: The many facets of exchange rate exposure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(2), pages 148-173, February.
    18. Hodder, James E & Senbet, Lemma W, 1990. "International Capital Structure Equilibrium," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 45(5), pages 1495-1516, December.
    19. Shapiro, Alan C., 1984. "Currency Risk and Relative Price Risk," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 19(4), pages 365-373, December.
    20. Chowdhry, Bhagwan & Coval, Joshua D., 1998. "Internal financing of multinational subsidiaries: Debt vs. equity1," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 87-106, March.
    21. John R. Graham, 2003. "Taxes and Corporate Finance: A Review," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1075-1129.
    22. Palia, Darius, 2001. "The Endogeneity of Managerial Compensation in Firm Valuation: A Solution," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 735-764.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Brooks, Chris & Godfrey, Chris & Hillenbrand, Carola & Money, Kevin, 2016. "Do investors care about corporate taxes?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 218-248.
    2. Devereux, Michael P. & Maffini, Giorgia & Xing, Jing, 2018. "Corporate tax incentives and capital structure: New evidence from UK firm-level tax returns," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 250-266.
    3. Peter Vaz da Fonseca & Michele Nascimento Juca, 2020. "The Influence of Taxes on Foreign Direct Investment: Systematic Literature Review and Bibliometric Analysis," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(2), pages 55-77.
    4. Guttorm Schjelderup, 2016. "The Tax Sensitivity of Debt in Multinationals: A Review," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 109-121, February.
    5. Ronald B. Davies & Neill Killeen, 2018. "The Effect of Tax Treaties on Market Based Finance: Evidence using Firm-Level Data," Working Papers 201818, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    6. Jones, Edward & Kwansa, Nana Abena & Li, Hao, 2020. "How does internationalization affect capital raising decisions? Evidence from UK firms," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 57.
    7. Thiess Buettner & Michael Overesch & Georg Wamser, 2016. "Restricted interest deductibility and multinationals’ use of internal debt finance," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 23(5), pages 785-797, October.
    8. He, Mengyu & Kang, Kai & Wei, Xuguang & Li, Yongjian, 2023. "Financing strategy of transnational supply chain with vertical shareholding under tax system difference: Creditor or guarantor?," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    9. Feld, Lars P. & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Capital structure choice and company taxation: A meta-study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2850-2866.
    10. Eidenmüller, Horst & Engert, Andreas & Hornuf, Lars, 2015. "Where do firms issue debt? An empirical analysis of issuer location and regulatory competition in Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 103-115.
    11. Lindner, Thomas & Klein, Florian & Schmidt, Stefan, 2018. "The effect of internationalization on firm capital structure: A meta-analysis and exploration of institutional contingencies," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1238-1249.
    12. Jose Martin‐Flores & Christophe Moussu, 2019. "Is bank capital sensitive to a tax allowance on marginal equity?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 25(2), pages 325-357, March.
    13. Gebhardt Heinz & Siemers Lars-H. R., 2017. "Die relative Steuerbelastung mittelständischer Kapitalgesellschaften: Evidenz von handelsbilanziellen Mikrodaten," Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftspolitik, De Gruyter, vol. 66(1), pages 1-35, April.
    14. Park, Soon Hong & Suh, Jungwon & Yeung, Bernard, 2013. "Do multinational and domestic corporations differ in their leverage policies?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 115-139.
    15. Wang, Jin-Meng & Cheng, Teng Yuan, 2023. "Do the differences in legal systems hinder international enterprises’ debt financing?," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Ge, Wenxia & Kim, Jeong-Bon & Li, Tiemei & Li, Yutao, 2016. "Offshore operations and bank loan contracting: Evidence from firms that set up subsidiaries in offshore financial centers," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 335-355.
    17. David Yechiam Aharon & Yossi Yagil, 2019. "The Impact of Financial Leverage on the Variance of Stock Returns," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-18, March.
    18. Ai, Li & Gao, Lucia S., 2023. "Firm-level risk of climate change: Evidence from climate disasters," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    19. David Yechiam Aharon & Yossi Yagil, 2019. "The Impact of Financial Leverage on Shareholders’ Systematic Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-23, November.
    20. Dinkel, Andreas, 2015. "Tax attractiveness and the allocation of risk within multinationals," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 189, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    21. Peter Birch Sørensen, 2017. "Taxation and the optimal constraint on corporate debt finance: why a comprehensive business income tax is suboptimal," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 24(5), pages 731-753, September.
    22. Stanislav Klazar & Barbora Slintáková, 2019. "Vliv zdanění příjmů na zadlužení nefinančních podniků [Influence of Income Taxation on Indebtedness of Non-financial Firms]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2019(3), pages 253-272.
    23. Lindner, Thomas & Puck, Jonas & Stocco, Giulia, 2023. "Asymmetric risk perception and firm financing in the institutional envelope," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(3).
    24. David Yechiam Aharon & Yossi Yagil, 2019. "The Impact of Financial Leverage on the Cost of Equity," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 9(2), pages 175-188.

    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. Mai, Nhat Chi, 2012. "Market timing, taxes and capital structure: evidence from Vietnam," OSF Preprints t3mvs, Center for Open Science.
    2. Aggarwal, Raj & Kyaw, NyoNyo A., 2008. "Internal capital networks as a source of MNC competitive advantage: Evidence from foreign subsidiary capital structure decisions," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 409-439, September.
    3. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc & Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2008. "Capital structure and international debt shifting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 80-118, April.
    4. Michael Pfaffermayr & Matthias Stöckl & Hannes Winner, 2013. "Capital Structure, Corporate Taxation and Firm Age," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 34(1), pages 109-135, March.
    5. Feld, Lars P. & Heckemeyer, Jost H. & Overesch, Michael, 2013. "Capital structure choice and company taxation: A meta-study," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(8), pages 2850-2866.
    6. Akbel, Basak & Schnitzer, Monika, 2011. "Creditor rights and debt allocation within multinationals," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(6), pages 1367-1379, June.
    7. Todd Mitton, 2008. "Why Have Debt Ratios Increased for Firms in Emerging Markets?," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 14(1), pages 127-151, January.
    8. Marco Botta & Luca Colombo, 2016. "Macroeconomic and Institutional Determinants of Capital Structure Decisions," DISCE - Working Papers del Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza def038, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    9. Joliet, Robert & Muller, Aline, 2013. "Capital structure effects of international expansion," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 23(5), pages 375-393.
    10. Goldbach, Stefan & Møen, Jarle & Schindler, Dirk & Schjelderup, Guttorm & Wamser, Georg, 2021. "The tax-efficient use of debt in multinational corporations," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    11. Mari Avarmaa & Aaro Hazak & Kadri Männasoo, 2011. "Capital structure formation in multinational and local companies in the Baltic States," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 11(1), pages 125-146, July.
    12. Voeller, Dennis & Overesch, Michael, 2008. "The Impact of Personal and Corporate Taxation on Capital Structure Choices," ZEW Discussion Papers 08-020, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    13. Stöckl Matthias & Winner Hannes, 2013. "Körperschaftsbesteuerung und Unternehmensverschuldung: Evidenz aus einem Europäischen Firmenpanel / Capital Structure and Corporate Taxation: Empirical Evidence from European Panel Data," Journal of Economics and Statistics (Jahrbuecher fuer Nationaloekonomie und Statistik), De Gruyter, vol. 233(2), pages 188-205, April.
    14. Jarle Møen & Dirk Schindler & Guttorm Schjelderup & Julia Tropina Bakke, 2019. "International Debt Shifting: The Value-Maximizing Mix of Internal and External Debt," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 431-465, September.
    15. San Martín, Pablo & Saona, Paolo, 2017. "Capital structure in the Chilean corporate sector: Revisiting the stylized facts," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 163-174.
    16. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines, Jr., 2003. "A Multinational Perspective on Capital Structure Choice and Internal Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 9715, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Gaud, Philippe & Hoesli, Martin & Bender, Andre, 2007. "Debt-equity choice in Europe," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 201-222.
    18. Allayannis,George & Brown,Gregory W. & Klapper,Leora & Allayannis,George & Brown,Gregory W. & Klapper, Leora F., 2005. "Legal effectiveness and external capital : the role of foreign debt," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3530, The World Bank.
    19. Gresik, Thomas A. & Schindler, Dirk & Schjelderup, Guttorm, 2017. "Immobilizing corporate income shifting: Should it be safe to strip in the harbor?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 68-78.
    20. Lindner, Thomas & Muellner, Jakob & Puck, Jonas, 2016. "Cost of Capital in an International Context: Institutional Distance, Quality, and Dynamics," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 234-248.

    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:eee:corfin:v:16:y:2010:i:5:p:637-654. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    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.