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IPOs and Corporate Taxes

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Does going public affect the amount and type of corporate tax planning? Using a panel of U.S. corporate tax return data from 1994 to 2018, we show that IPO completion is associated with the implementation of multinational income shifting strategies central to the current international tax policy debate. Specifically, firms (i) expand their foreign tax haven presence, (ii) enter into cross-border agreements that accompany intangible asset transfers to foreign subsidiaries, and (iii) increase their level of foreign related-party payments around the time that they go public. The effects are strongest among firms that switch to more sophisticated tax advisors in the years preceding the IPO. In contrast, we observe little domestic tax planning because large stock option deductions, which increase as a consequence of the IPO, provide large domestic tax shields. The paper contributes to the nascent literature studying IPOs by documenting the types and timing of specific tax strategies that enable public firms to remain lightly taxed in the post-IPO period. Furthermore, the findings imply that U.S. tax policies targeted at early-stage innovative firms are critical for retaining domestically developed IP – and the income earned on such assets – for the U.S. tax base.

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  • Christine L. Dobridge & Rebecca Lester & Andrew Whitten, 2021. "IPOs and Corporate Taxes," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2021-058, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), revised Nov 2022.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2021-58
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2021.058
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    1. Lowry, Michelle, 2003. "Why does IPO volume fluctuate so much?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(1), pages 3-40, January.
    2. Malcolm Baker & Jeffrey Wurgler, 2006. "Investor Sentiment and the Cross‐Section of Stock Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1645-1680, August.
    3. Aggarwal, Rajesh K. & Krigman, Laurie & Womack, Kent L., 2002. "Strategic IPO underpricing, information momentum, and lockup expiration selling," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 66(1), pages 105-137, October.
    4. Busaba, Walid Y. & Benveniste, Lawrence M. & Guo, Re-Jin, 2001. "The option to withdraw IPOs during the premarket: empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 73-102, April.
    5. Dunbar, Craig G. & Foerster, Stephen R., 2008. "Second time lucky? Withdrawn IPOs that return to the market," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 610-635, March.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    initial public offering (IPO); tax planning; multinational tax;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies

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