IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v208y2011i2p161-169.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Optimal tax depreciation with loss carry-forward and backward options

Author

Listed:
  • Kulp, Alison
  • Hartman, Joseph C.

Abstract

The choice of depreciation method from among straight-line and accelerated methods can have a significant impact on the present value of expected tax payments. This is a problem that has been studied for decades, with most results indicating the optimality of accelerated methods. Recent research questions this claim by relaxing the assumption of positive taxable income. The situation where net-operating losses may be carried-forward and backward in time is the subject of this paper. We model this situation and establish conditions that allow straight-line depreciation to be preferred over accelerated methods. The results are focused around a threshold number of periods of consecutive losses, which are determined by the allowable periods to carry a loss forward. For consecutive losses beyond this threshold, straight-line will always be optimal. When the cumulative depreciation charges up to and including the window are guaranteed to be applied on or before the threshold period, then straight-line will never be optimal.

Suggested Citation

  • Kulp, Alison & Hartman, Joseph C., 2011. "Optimal tax depreciation with loss carry-forward and backward options," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 208(2), pages 161-169, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:208:y:2011:i:2:p:161-169
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377-2217(10)00479-0
    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. Wielhouwer, Jacco L. & Waegenaere, Anja De & Kort, Peter M., 2002. "Optimal tax depreciation under a progressive tax system," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 243-269, December.
    2. Hassler, John & Krusell, Per & Storesletten, Kjetil & Zilibotti, Fabrizio, 2008. "On the optimal timing of capital taxes," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(4), pages 692-709, May.
    3. B. Alva Schoomer, Jr., 1966. "Optimal Depreciation Strategies for Income Tax Purposes," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 12(12), pages 552-579, August.
    4. Back, B. & Back, R. J. R., 1995. "Financial statement planning in the presence of tax constraints," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 66-81, August.
    5. Louveaux, F., 1982. "Optimal scheduling of income tax prepayments under stochastic incomes," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 26-32, January.
    6. Wakeman, Lee MacDonald, 1980. "Optimal tax depreciation," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 213-237, December.
    7. Berg, Menachem & Waegenaere, Anja De & Wielhouwer, Jacco L., 2001. "Optimal tax depreciation with uncertain future cash-flows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 197-209, July.
    8. Sidney Davidson & David F. Drake, 1961. "Capital Budgeting and the "Best" Tax Depreciation Method," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34, pages 442-442.
    9. Vadim Arkin & Alexander Slastnikov, 2007. "The effect of depreciation allowances on the timing of investment and government tax revenue," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 307-323, April.
    10. Lee, Zu-Hsu & Deng, Shiming & Lin, Beixin & Yang, James G.S., 2010. "Decision model and analysis for investment interest expense deduction and allocation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 200(1), pages 268-280, January.
    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. Adkins, Roger & Paxson, Dean, 2017. "Replacement decisions with multiple stochastic values and depreciation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 257(1), pages 174-184.
    2. Javiera Barrera & Eduardo Moreno & Sebastián Varas K., 2020. "A decomposition algorithm for computing income taxes with pass-through entities and its application to the Chilean case," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 286(1), pages 545-557, March.
    3. Adkins, Roger & Paxson, Dean, 2013. "The effect of tax depreciation on the stochastic replacement policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 229(1), pages 155-164.
    4. Hagen Ackermann & Martin Fochmann & Nadja Wolf, 2016. "The Effect of Straight-Line and Accelerated Depreciation Rules on Risky Investment Decisions—An Experimental Study," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-26, October.

    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. Adkins, Roger & Paxson, Dean, 2013. "The effect of tax depreciation on the stochastic replacement policy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 229(1), pages 155-164.
    2. De Waegenaere, A.M.B. & Wielhouwer, J.L., 2008. "Dynamic Tax Depreciation Strategies," Discussion Paper 2008-87, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    3. De Waegenaere, A.M.B. & Wielhouwer, J.L., 2008. "Dynamic Tax Depreciation Strategies," Other publications TiSEM 53102e34-40e3-4c31-a426-9, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    4. Hagen Ackermann & Martin Fochmann & Nadja Wolf, 2016. "The Effect of Straight-Line and Accelerated Depreciation Rules on Risky Investment Decisions—An Experimental Study," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-26, October.
    5. Javiera Barrera & Eduardo Moreno & Sebastián Varas K., 2020. "A decomposition algorithm for computing income taxes with pass-through entities and its application to the Chilean case," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 286(1), pages 545-557, March.
    6. Arkin Vadim & Arkina Svetlana & Slastnikov Alexander, 2003. "Investment Stimulation by a Depreciation Mechanism," EERC Working Paper Series 02-05e, EERC Research Network, Russia and CIS.
    7. Wielhouwer, Jacco L. & Waegenaere, Anja De & Kort, Peter M., 2002. "Optimal tax depreciation under a progressive tax system," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 243-269, December.
    8. Berg, Menachem & Waegenaere, Anja De & Wielhouwer, Jacco L., 2001. "Optimal tax depreciation with uncertain future cash-flows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 197-209, July.
    9. Vadim Arkin & Alexander Slastnikov, 2007. "The effect of depreciation allowances on the timing of investment and government tax revenue," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 151(1), pages 307-323, April.
    10. Wielhouwer, J.L., 2002. "Optimal tax depreciation and its effects on optimal firm investments," Other publications TiSEM 822d5150-6b3a-463a-8001-4, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    11. Jennergren, L. Peter, 2018. "A note on the linear and annuity class of depreciation methods," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 123-134.
    12. Berg, M. & De Waegenaere, A.M.B. & Wielhouwer, J.L., 1996. "Optimal Tax Reduction by Depreciation : A Stochastic Model," Discussion Paper 1996-102, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    13. Berg, M. & De Waegenaere, A.M.B. & Wielhouwer, J.L., 1996. "Optimal Tax Reduction by Depreciation : A Stochastic Model," Other publications TiSEM e0cfb53a-86e6-4bd8-992d-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    14. Jaakkola, Niko & Spiro, Daniel & van Benthem, Arthur A., 2019. "Finders, keepers?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 17-33.
    15. Heathcote, Jonathan & Storesletten, Kjetil & Violante, Giovanni L., 2020. "Optimal progressivity with age-dependent taxation," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    16. Slastnikov, A., 2014. "Investing a Risky Projects under the Government Guarantees on Loans," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 24(4), pages 12-37.
    17. Imaishi, N. & Kestin, J. & Wakeham, W.A., 1984. "Thermal conductivity of two binary mixtures of gases of equal molecular weight," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 50-71.
    18. Abdelmajid EL WAATMANI, 2016. "Le concept de l’amortissement : histoire et enjeux," Journal of Academic Finance, RED research unit, university of Gabes, Tunisia, vol. 7(2), pages 33-52, November.
    19. Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2005. "The Research Agenda: Fabrizio Zilibotti on the Equilibrium Dynamics of Policies and Institutions," EconomicDynamics Newsletter, Review of Economic Dynamics, vol. 7(1), November.
    20. Mathias Trabandt, 2006. "Optimal Pre-Announced Tax Reforms Under Valuable And Productive Government Spending," 2006 Meeting Papers 668, Society for Economic Dynamics.

    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:ejores:v:208:y:2011:i:2:p:161-169. 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/eor .

    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.