Tax-avoidance strategies of American multinationals: an empirical analysis

This paper analyzes the opportunities of American multinationals to reallocate their profits into tax havens. In contrast to previous papers, a comprehensive look on the profit-shifting process is undertaken by proposing three different tests. Multinationals in high-tax countries have a lower equity ratio than affiliates in tax havens, indicating that income is shifted by extensively financing subsidiaries in high-tax countries with debt. Furthermore, the share of retained earnings is lower in high-tax countries owing to the unattractiveness of tax deferral. When testing for the outcomes of profit shifting, the results show that the pre-tax profitability of American multinationals is higher in tax havens. This relationship is consistent with the opportunities of multinationals to shift income outside high-tax jurisdictions. Finally, the paper shows that profit shifting largely takes place into tax havens, whereas other countries do not benefit from profit-shifting activities. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.