IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ebg/iesewp/d-0628.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The correct value of tax shields: An analysis of 23 theories

Author

Listed:
  • Fernandez, Pablo

    (IESE Business School)

Abstract

This paper provides guidelines to evaluate the appropriateness of 23 different valuation methods for estimating the present value of tax shields. We first show that the value of tax shields is the difference between the present values of two different cash flows with their own risks: the present value of taxes for the unlevered company and the present value of taxes for the levered company. This implies, as a first guideline, that, for the particular case of a perpetuity and a world without costs of leverage, the value of tax shields is equal to the tax rate times the value of debt. The value of tax shields can be lower when costs of leverage exist. In that case, we show that, since the existence of leverage costs is independent of taxes, a second guideline for the appropriateness of the valuation method should be that the value of tax shields, when there are no taxes, is negative. We then look at the case of constant growth and derive similar conclusions. Second, we identify 23 valuation theories proposed in the literature to estimate the present value of tax shields and illustrate their performance relative to the proposed guidelines. Eight of these theories do not satisfy the two proposed guidelines for the case of perpetuities. Only one of the valuation methods is consistent with these restrictions when we look at the case of constant growth and no leverage costs. Two theories provide consistent valuations when we allow for leverage costs and growth. Finally, we use the 23 theories to value a hypothetical firm and show remarkable differences in the values obtained, which demonstrates the importance of using a method consistent with the proposed guidelines.

Suggested Citation

  • Fernandez, Pablo, 2006. "The correct value of tax shields: An analysis of 23 theories," IESE Research Papers D/628, IESE Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebg:iesewp:d-0628
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.iese.edu/research/pdfs/DI-0628-E.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fernandez, Pablo, 2004. "The value of tax shields is NOT equal to the present value of tax shields," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 145-165, July.
    2. Fernández , Pablo, 2002. "Valuing companies by cash flow discounting: Ten methods and nine theories," IESE Research Papers D/451, IESE Business School.
    3. Miles, James A. & Ezzell, John R., 1980. "The Weighted Average Cost of Capital, Perfect Capital Markets, and Project Life: A Clarification," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 15(3), pages 719-730, September.
    4. Kaplan, Steven N & Ruback, Richard S, 1995. "The Valuation of Cash Flow Forecasts: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 50(4), pages 1059-1093, September.
    5. Miles, James A & Ezzell, John R, 1985. "Reformulating Tax Shield Valuation: A Note," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 40(5), pages 1485-1492, December.
    6. Robert A. Taggart & Jr., 1991. "Consistent valuation and Cost of Capital Expressions With Corporate and Personal Taxes," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 20(3), Fall.
    7. Miller, Merton H, 1977. "Debt and Taxes," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 32(2), pages 261-275, May.
    8. Fernandez, Pablo, 2002. "Valuation Methods and Shareholder Value Creation," Elsevier Monographs, Elsevier, edition 1, number 9780122538414.
    9. Lewellen, Wilbur G. & Emery, Douglas R., 1986. "Corporate Debt Management and the Value of the Firm," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(4), pages 415-426, December.
    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. Dirk Beyer, 2018. "A matrix approach to valuation and performance measurement based on accounting information considering different financing policies," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 29(1), pages 37-61, March.
    2. Fabrizio Cacciafesta, 2015. "Using the WACC to rate a new project," CEIS Research Paper 339, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 10 Apr 2015.
    3. Lucia MICHALKOVA & Tomas KLIESTIK, 2019. "The Role Of Risk In The Valuation Of Tax Shield," Proceedings of the INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT CONFERENCE, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 13(1), pages 218-233, November.

    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. Fernandez, Pablo, 2003. "Levered and unlevered Beta," IESE Research Papers D/488, IESE Business School.
    2. Fernandez, Pablo, 2005. "Financial literature about discounted cash flow valuation," IESE Research Papers D/606, IESE Business School.
    3. Fernandez, Pablo, 2004. "The value of tax shields is NOT equal to the present value of tax shields," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 145-165, July.
    4. Fernandez, Pablo, 2003. "Equivalence of ten different methods for valuing companies by cash flow discounting," IESE Research Papers D/524, IESE Business School.
    5. Fernandez, Pablo, 2004. "Equivalence of ten different discounted cash flow valuation methods," IESE Research Papers D/549, IESE Business School.
    6. Fernandez, Pablo, 2004. "Value of tax shields and the risk of the net increase of debt, The. Year 2004," IESE Research Papers D/544, IESE Business School.
    7. Fernández , Pablo, 2002. "Valuing companies by cash flow discounting: Ten methods and nine theories," IESE Research Papers D/451, IESE Business School.
    8. Fernández, Pablo, 1995. "Equivalence of the APV, WACC and flows to equity approaches to firm valuation," IESE Research Papers D/292, IESE Business School.
    9. Fernandez, Pablo, 2007. "A more realistic valuation: APV and WACC with constant book leverage ratio," IESE Research Papers D/715, IESE Business School.
    10. Cooper, Ian A. & Nyborg, Kjell G., 2006. "The value of tax shields IS equal to the present value of tax shields," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 215-225, July.
    11. Ignacio Velez-Pareja & Julian Benavides Franco, 2011. "Cost of Capital when Dividends are Deductible," Brazilian Review of Finance, Brazilian Society of Finance, vol. 9(3), pages 309-334.
    12. Pasquale De Luca, 2017. "Debt Level and the Firm Levered Cost of Capital," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 7(5), pages 475-484.
    13. Ian A. Cooper & Kjell G. Nyborg, 2008. "Tax‐Adjusted Discount Rates with Investor Taxes and Risky Debt," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 37(2), pages 365-379, June.
    14. Sarmiento-Sabogal, Julio & Sadeghi, Mehdi, 2014. "Unlevered betas and the cost of equity capital: An empirical approach," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 90-105.
    15. Shigufta Hena Uzma & J.P. Singh & Naveen Kumar, 2010. "Discounted Cash Flow and Its Implication on Intangible Valuation," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 11(3), pages 365-377, October.
    16. Fernández, Pablo, 1999. "Equivalence of the different discounted cash flow valuation methods. Different alternatives for determining the discounted value of tax shields and their implications for the valuation," IESE Research Papers D/400, IESE Business School.
    17. Ralf Diedrich & Stefan Dierkes & Hans-Christian Gröger, 2022. "A note on the cost of capital with fixed payout ratios," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 59(4), pages 1559-1575, November.
    18. Nyborg, Kjell & Molnár, Peter, 2011. "Tax-Adjusted Discount Rates: A General Formula under Constant Leverage Ratios," CEPR Discussion Papers 8330, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Marko Volker Krause & Alexander Lahmann, 2016. "Reconsidering the appropriate discount rate for tax shield valuation," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 86(5), pages 477-512, July.
    20. Ignacio Vélez-Pareja & Rauf Ibragimov & Joseph Tham, 2008. "Constant Leverage And Constant Cost Of Capital: A Common Knowledge Half-Truth," Estudios Gerenciales, Universidad Icesi, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    value tax shields; valuation theories; valuation methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:ebg:iesewp:d-0628. 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: Noelia Romero (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ienaves.html .

    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.