The influence of the environment’s tax morale on corporate tax avoidance

We explore the impact of a country’s tax morale —defined as the intrinsic motivation and social norms that promote tax compliance— on corporate tax avoidance for both domestic firms and multinational corporations (MNCs). Our findings reveal that a strong tax morale environment deters tax avoidance f...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Cano Rodríguez, Manuel, Horno Bueno, María de la Paz
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Recursos:Universidad de Jaén
Repositorio:RUJA. Repositorio Institucional de la Producción Científica de la Universidad de Jaén
OAI Identifier:oai:ruja.ujaen.es:10953/6742
Acesso em linha:https://hdl.handle.net/10953/6742
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Tax morale, corporate tax avoidance, tax aggressiveness, income shifting, multinational tax planning, reputational costs.
657 – Contabilidad
Descrição
Resumo:We explore the impact of a country’s tax morale —defined as the intrinsic motivation and social norms that promote tax compliance— on corporate tax avoidance for both domestic firms and multinational corporations (MNCs). Our findings reveal that a strong tax morale environment deters tax avoidance for domestic companies. Moreover, our results indicate that the negative relationship between tax morale and tax avoidance is driven primarily by managers’ own tax morale rather than reputational concerns. For MNCs, our results reveal a more complex relationship between tax morale and income-shifting practices: While strong tax morale in the subsidiaries’ countries is associated with less income-shifting practices, parent companies headquartered in high-tax-morale countries engage more in these practices, possibly to bypass stricter norms at home. This study contributes to the literature by showing that tax morale plays a critical role in shaping corporate tax behavior, offering insights for policymakers on the importance of cultural and social contexts in reducing tax avoidance.