Corporate Tax Strategies and Firm Characteristics
Summary
Corporate tax strategies encompass the range of legal planning and reporting techniques that firms deploy to manage their tax liabilities, from structuring transactions to optimising the timing and presentation of taxable events. Research has highlighted how firm‐level features—such as size, profitability, leverage, governance structures and managerial quality—influence the choice and effectiveness of these strategies. Larger or more resource‐rich firms often exploit scale advantages to access sophisticated shelters, while firms with robust governance and reputational concerns may favour conservative approaches. Disclosure practices, including the qualitative management of tax footnotes, serve both as early signals of future tax outcomes and as mechanisms to navigate regulatory scrutiny. Comparative studies spanning developed and emerging markets underscore the global relevance of tax planning, informing policy debates on fairness, compliance costs and the balancing of revenue needs with economic growth objectives.
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Corporate Tax Strategies and Firm Characteristics publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in corporate tax strategies and firm characteristics across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Effective Tax Rate (ETR): The ratio of tax expense to pre‐tax accounting income, indicating the average rate at which income is taxed.
Tax avoidance: Legal strategies employed by firms to minimise tax liabilities through planning, deductions or shelters.
Earnings management: Deliberate manipulation of financial reports to achieve targeted accounting outcomes, often via accruals or real activities.
Book‐tax differences (BTD): Discrepancies between accounting income and taxable income arising from timing or permanent items.
Tax disclosure: Voluntary or mandatory reporting of tax‐related information in financial statements, such as footnote narratives or schedules.
References
- Strategic management of tax disclosure: asymmetric timeliness of tax footnote modifications. Review of Managerial Science (2024).
- Tax avoidance and earnings management: a neural network approach for the largest European economies. Financial Innovation (2023).
- Managerial ability and tax aggressiveness. China Accounting and Finance Review (2022).
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