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Territorial Tax Reform and Profit Shifting by US and Japanese Multinationals

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  • Makoto Hasegawa

Abstract

In 2009, Japan adopted a territorial tax regime by exempting dividends paid by Japanese-owned foreign subsidiaries to their parent firms from home-country taxation. This paper examines the impact of this tax reform on profit shifting by Japanese multinationals. I find that the semielasticity of pretax profits with respect to host-country corporate tax rates for Japanese-owned foreign subsidiaries, particularly large subsidiaries, increased after the 2008 announcement of the implementation of the territorial tax regime, relative to that for US-owned foreign subsidiaries. This suggests that large Japanese-owned foreign subsidiaries responded to the incentive for profit shifting provided by the territorial tax reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Makoto Hasegawa, 2023. "Territorial Tax Reform and Profit Shifting by US and Japanese Multinationals," National Tax Journal, University of Chicago Press, vol. 76(4), pages 771-804.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucp:nattax:doi:10.1086/727012
    DOI: 10.1086/727012
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    Cited by:

    1. Tomomi Sakurai, 2020. "Profit Shifting by Japanese Multinational Corporations," Discussion papers ron332, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan.
    2. repec:kue:epaper:e-20-004 is not listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business

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