IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/lmu/muenec/2029.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Profit Shifting by Multinationals: Indirect Evidence from European Micro Data

Author

Listed:
  • Dischinger, Matthias

Abstract

We provide indirect empirical evidence of profit shifting behavior by multinational enterprises. This issue is analyzed in an econometric panel study for the years 1995 to 2005 and additionally in a cross-section for 2004 using a large micro database of European subsidiaries of multinationals (AMADEUS) which includes detailed balance sheet items. Our results show a decrease in the unconsolidated pre-tax profits of an affiliated company of approximately 7% if the difference in the statutory corporate tax rate of this affiliate to its parent increases by 10 percentage points. Various robustness checks support our profit shifting evidence. Furthermore, the results suggest an overall shift of profits out of the European Union. In addition, we provide evidence that a higher parent's ownership share of its subsidiary leads to intensified profit shifting behavior.

Suggested Citation

  • Dischinger, Matthias, 2007. "Profit Shifting by Multinationals: Indirect Evidence from European Micro Data," Discussion Papers in Economics 2029, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:2029
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/2029/1/dischinger_2007_profit_shifting.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Collins, J & Kemsley, D & Lang, M, 1998. "Cross-jurisdictional income shifting and earnings valuation," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(2), pages 209-229.
    2. Swenson, Deborah L., 2001. "Tax Reforms and Evidence of Transfer Pricing," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(1), pages 7-26, March.
    3. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Peter K. Schott, 2006. "Transfer Pricing by U.S.-Based Multinational Firms," NBER Working Papers 12493, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Clausing, Kimberly A., 2003. "Tax-motivated transfer pricing and US intrafirm trade prices," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(9-10), pages 2207-2223, September.
    5. Fred Ramb & Alfons J. Weichenrieder, 2005. "Taxes and the Financial Structure of German Inward FDI," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 141(4), pages 670-692, December.
    6. Egger, Peter & Eggert, Wolfgang & Winner, Hannes, 2010. "Saving taxes through foreign plant ownership," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(1), pages 99-108, May.
    7. David Harris & Randall Morck & Joel B. Slemrod, 1993. "Income Shifting in U.S. Multinational Corporations," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in International Taxation, pages 277-308, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Johannes Becker & Clemens Fuest, 2007. "Quality versus Quantity – The Composition Effect of Corporate Taxation on Foreign Direct Investment," CESifo Working Paper Series 2126, CESifo.
    9. James R. Hines & Eric M. Rice, 1994. "Fiscal Paradise: Foreign Tax Havens and American Business," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(1), pages 149-182.
    10. Jack Mintz & Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Alfons Weichenrieder, 2005. "Taxation and the Financial Structure of German Outbound FDI," CESifo Working Paper Series 1612, CESifo.
    11. Giovannini, Alberto & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Slemrod, Joel (ed.), 1993. "Studies in International Taxation," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226297019, September.
    12. Grubert, Harry & Mutti, John, 1991. "Taxes, Tariffs and Transfer Pricing in Multinational Corporate Decision Making," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 73(2), pages 285-293, May.
    13. Grubert, Harry, 2003. "Intangible Income, Intercompany Transactions, Income Shifting, and the Choice of Location," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 56(1), pages 221-242, March.
    14. Stöwhase, Sven, 2002. "Profit Shifting opportunities, Multinationals, and the determinants of FDI," Discussion Papers in Economics 29, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    15. Swenson, Deborah L., 2001. "Tax Reforms and Evidence of Transfer Pricing," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 54(n. 1), pages 7-26, March.
    16. Mintz, Jack & Smart, Michael, 2004. "Income shifting, investment, and tax competition: theory and evidence from provincial taxation in Canada," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(6), pages 1149-1168, June.
    17. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc, 2007. "International Profit Shifting within European Multinationals," CEPR Discussion Papers 6048, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    18. Overesch, Michael, 2006. "Transfer pricing of intrafirm sales as a profit shifting channel: evidence from German firm data," ZEW Discussion Papers 06-084, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    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. Liberini, Federica, 2014. "Corporate Taxes and the Growth of the Firm," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 1042, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
    2. Dischinger, Matthias & Riedel, Nadine, 2008. "Corporate Taxes, Profit Shifting and the Location of Intangibles within Multinational Firms," Discussion Papers in Economics 4450, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    3. Dischinger, Matthias & Riedel, Nadine, 2011. "Corporate taxes and the location of intangible assets within multinational firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 95(7-8), pages 691-707, August.
    4. Giovanni Cerulli & Bianca Potì & Raffaele Spallone, 2018. "The impact of fiscal relief on multinationals business R&D investments: a cross-country analysis," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 35(2), pages 649-675, August.
    5. Matthias Wrede, 2013. "Multinational Financial Structure and Tax Competition," Swiss Journal of Economics and Statistics (SJES), Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics (SSES), vol. 149(III), pages 381-404, September.
    6. John Creedy & Norman Gemmell, 2011. "Corporation tax asymmetries: effective tax rates and profit shifting," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 18(4), pages 422-435, August.
    7. Tomomi Sakurai, 2020. "Profit Shifting by Japanese Multinational Corporations," Discussion papers ron332, Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Finance Japan.
    8. Matthias Wrede, 2009. "Multinational Capital Structure and Tax Competition," MAGKS Papers on Economics 200934, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, Department of Economics (Volkswirtschaftliche Abteilung).
    9. Brandstetter, Laura, 2014. "Do Corporate Tax Cuts Reduce International Profit Shifting?," Discussion Papers 2014/10, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    10. Brandstetter, Laura, 2014. "Do corporate tax cuts reduce international profit shifting," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 162, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    11. Sarah Godar, 2018. "Tax Haven Investors and Corporate Profitability - Evidence of Profit Shifting by German-Based Affiliates of Multinational Firms," Working Papers IES 2018/12, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Dec 2018.

    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. Dischinger, Matthias, 2008. "Profit Shifting by Multinationals and the Ownership Share: Evidence from European Micro Data," Discussion Papers in Economics 5661, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    2. An, Zhiyong & Tan, Congyan, 2014. "Taxation and income shifting: Empirical evidence from a quasi-experiment in China," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 588-596.
    3. Claudia Keser & Gerrit Kimpel & Andreas Oestreicher, 2016. "Would a CCCTB mitigate profit shifting?," CIRANO Working Papers 2016s-29, CIRANO.
    4. Arnt Ove Hopland & Petro Lisowsky & Mohammed Mardan & Dirk Schindler, 2014. "Income Shifting under Losses," CESifo Working Paper Series 5130, CESifo.
    5. Gaëtan Nicodème, 2006. "Corporate tax competition and coordination in the European Union: What do we know? Where do we stand?," European Economy - Economic Papers 2008 - 2015 250, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    6. James R. Hines Jr., 2005. "Do Tax Havens Flourish?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 19, pages 65-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. V. Vicard, 2015. "Profit shifting through transfer pricing: evidence from French firm level trade data," Working papers 555, Banque de France.
    8. Alfons Weichenrieder, 2009. "Profit shifting in the EU: evidence from Germany," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 16(3), pages 281-297, June.
    9. Anca D. Cristea & Daniel X. Nguyen, 2016. "Transfer Pricing by Multinational Firms: New Evidence from Foreign Firm Ownerships," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 8(3), pages 170-202, August.
    10. Bakke, Julia Tropina & Hopland, Arnt Ove & Møen, Jarle, 2019. "Profit shifting and the effect of stricter transfer pricing regulation on tax revenue," Discussion Papers 2019/11, Norwegian School of Economics, Department of Business and Management Science.
    11. Brandstetter, Laura, 2014. "Do corporate tax cuts reduce international profit shifting," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 162, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    12. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2002. "Chains of Ownership, Regional Tax Competition, and Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Working Papers 9224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Sebastian Beer & Ruud de Mooij & Li Liu, 2020. "International Corporate Tax Avoidance: A Review Of The Channels, Magnitudes, And Blind Spots," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 660-688, July.
    14. Buettner, Thiess & Wamser, Georg, 2013. "Internal Debt and Multinational Profit Shifting: Empirical Evidence From Firm-Level Panel Data," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 66(1), pages 63-95, March.
    15. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2004. "Foreign direct investment in a world of multiple taxes," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 2727-2744, December.
    16. Keser, Claudia & Kimpel, Gerrit & Oestreicher, Andreas, 2014. "The CCCTB option: An experimental study," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 199, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    17. Céline Azémar & Gregory Corcos, 2009. "Multinational Firms’ Heterogeneity in Tax Responsiveness: The Role of Transfer Pricing," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(9), pages 1291-1318, September.
    18. Keser, Claudia & Kimpel, Gerrit & Oestreicher, Andreas, 2014. "The CCCTB option an experimental study," VfS Annual Conference 2014 (Hamburg): Evidence-based Economic Policy 100490, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    19. Michael P Devereux, 2007. "The Impact of Taxation on the Location of Capital, Firms and Profit: a Survey of Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 0702, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    20. Claudia Keser & Gerrit Kimpel & Andreas Oestreicher, 2014. "The CCCTB option – an experimental study," CIRANO Working Papers 2014s-24, CIRANO.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    corporate taxation; multinational enterprise; tax planning; profit shifting; micro level data; panel econometrics;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models

    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:lmu:muenec:2029. 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: Tamilla Benkelberg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.