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The purpose of this paper is to empirically explore whether and to what extent the changes in state corporate income tax rates affect corporate tax aggressiveness.

Using a differences-in-differences approach with dynamic treatment, the authors investigate the effect of staggered changes in state corporate income tax rates in the USA on corporate tax aggressiveness.

Firms become more aggressive in avoiding taxes following state tax increases but are insensitive to tax cuts. The effect of state tax increases on tax aggressiveness is weaker for firms with greater debt tax shields and marginal tax rates. Firms are more likely to shift their operations and relocate their headquarters out of states experiencing tax increases.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this paper is the first to study the relation between state tax policy changes and corporate tax aggressiveness. This paper finds an asymmetrical pattern of corporate tax aggressiveness in response to state tax changes.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the direct and indirect relationship between board gender diversity and corporate tax avoidance using corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a mediating variable.

This study uses a panel dataset of 200 French firms listed during 2007–2018 period. The direct and indirect effects between board gender diversity (BGD) and tax avoidance were tested by using structural equation model analysis.

The results indicate that the presence of women on corporate boardrooms negatively affects tax avoidance. The greater the proportion of women in boards, the lower the likelihood of tax avoidance practice. In the mediation test, CSR appears to partially mediate the link between women on boards and corporate tax avoidance. Additional analysis shows that the social dimension of CSR produces this mediating effect.

The results have practical implications for companies in regulating the composition of their boards. To benefit from diversity, firms have to increase women‘s percentage in their boards of directors. Also, investors are encouraged to pay attention to the percentage of female directors when investing and purchasing shares.

This study proved empirically that the higher proportion of female directors significantly reduces the possibility of tax avoidance either directly or indirectly through enhancing CSR performance. The findings show that firms with gender diversified boards are more likely to get involved in CSR for hedging against the potential consequences of aggressive tax avoidance practices. In light of the above results, firms are well-advised to strongly apply the policy encouraging or mandating women as board members to take advantage of their expected benefits.

The originality of this paper consists in proposing the establishment of both direct and indirect relationships between BGD and corporate tax avoidance through CSR. Unlike prior studies that have been examining the direct relationship between corporate governance mechanisms and corporate tax avoidance, this study went further to investigate the indirect relationship between these two constructs. This study also differs from prior studies as it examines the effect of BGD on each of constituting pillars of CSR, namely, environmental, social and governance. To date, an extensive part of CSR research has used the combined score of CSR, but the effects on different CSR pillars remain little investigated.

To analyse the net present value (NPV) rule for corporate investments incorporating shareholder personal taxes, under the classical system of taxing corporate profits.

The after‐tax payoffs to shareholders are calculated, comparing immediate distribution as dividends of corporate funds available for investment with future after‐tax dividend distributions if corporate funds are invested.

Shareholders will disagree on the optimal corporate NPV rule. If, as in widely held public companies, corporate management are unaware of the marginal personal tax rate of shareholders, then the only rule which will accept investment projects that no shareholder would want the company to reject, is the rule which discounts after‐corporate‐tax cash flows at a before‐tax discount rate.

The analysis is based on the classical system of taxing corporate profits. A number of countries have adopted an integrated system of corporate taxation. The analysis may or may not extend to such alternative systems.

Simplifies the choice of NPV rules for corporate management, under a classical tax system.

The widely held view that after‐corporate‐tax discount rates should be used in discounting after‐corporate‐tax cash flows is shown to be inadequate.

The pervasiveness of tax non-compliance remains a serious concern to most tax authorities around the world. The negative impact of tax non-compliance on the economy and the evolving nature of the Malaysian corporate tax system have motivated this study. The purpose of this paper is to examine the determinants of corporate tax non-compliance among small-and-medium-sized corporations (SMCs) in Malaysia.

This study used economic deterrence theory to analyze and test 375 tax-audited cases finalized by the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia in 2011.

Multiple regression results revealed that marginal tax rate, company size and types of industry exerted significant effects on corporate tax non-compliance. The services and construction industries were noted to be the predominant industries engaged in tax non-compliance. The amount of concealed income unearthed during tax audit indicates clearly that there is widespread tax non-compliance in Malaysia and the quantum of tax lost through tax non-compliance is quite high.

This study only sampled SMCs audited in 2011, hence, care has been exercised in generalizing the findings.

This study affirms that marginal tax rate, company size and types of industry are the main factors influencing compliance behavior of SMCs. The findings provide important insights not only to the Malaysian tax authority, but also to tax authorities and tax researchers in other parts of the world given that tax non-compliance of SMCs is a prevalent and universal problem. For example, with regard to the finding that marginal tax rate and company size are linked to non-compliance, it can be surmised that tax authorities ought to divert resources to firms with such characteristics when conducting audits.

Most tax research tax examining corporate tax non-compliance used financial data from annual reports to predict tax non-compliance, which are not very accurate. This study used actual tax audit cases obtained from the tax authority which are reflective of the actual situation. This study complements the scant existing literature by empirically evaluating the factors that influenced corporate tax non-compliance in a developing country like Malaysia.

Corporate digital transformation (CDT) has challenged traditional tax administration systems. This study examines the impact of CDT on tax avoidance behavior and tests whether tax authorities can identify this behavior.

Using data on listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges from 2008 to 2020, this study applies the Heckman two-stage and cross-section models.

The results show that the higher the degree of CDT, the more aggressive the tax avoidance behavior. The CDT's impact on corporate tax avoidance is more significant under strong government tax efforts.

This study expands research on the economic consequences of CDT and the factors influencing corporate tax avoidance behavior. Moreover, it has important implications for governments to monitor tax avoidance behavior under the CDT, improve digital tax systems, and pay more attention to the tax administration of digital assets.

This study aims to contribute to the debate about the place of corporate taxation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) by reviewing the present state of research, offering a comprehensive understanding of the content and dimensions of corporate tax responsibility (CTR) and discussing further developments in research and action.

The study builds on a systematic literature review of 117 theoretical and empirical papers on tax within the broad field of CSR published in peer-reviewed academic journals and books.

The analysis unfolds and discusses the construct of CTR and proposes a unified conceptualisation that elucidates for what firms are (or should be) held accountable on tax matters and the different dimensions (i.e. instrumental, political, integrative and ethical) which justify greater tax responsibility and enable its achievement.

The results can provide companies with practical guidance to enhance their tax responsibility and can give stakeholders and policymakers suggestions for new mobilisation strategies to achieve more responsible tax behaviour.

Corporate tax payments are a fundamental dimension of CSR, as they fund public goods and services and reduce the unequal distribution of wealth. Providing a more structured understanding of CTR, this paper can contribute towards attaining more responsible tax outcomes which can better serve and benefit the whole society.

This study offers a structured overview of the present state of tax research in CSR, while providing a comprehensive understanding and conceptualisation of the construct of CTR, thus enabling scholars to situate their work and develop further relevant research in this field.

This study aims to provide a valuable contribution by exploring the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate tax avoidance of Malaysian listed companies.

The study is based on a sample consisting of 78 Malaysian firms over the 2010–2017 period. A moderation model that specifies the interaction between CSR, women directors and corporate tax avoidance motivates this study.

The results show that a high level of CSR is negatively associated with corporate tax avoidance in firms with a higher percentage of women on the board.

The findings may be of interest to the academic researchers, investors and regulators. For academic researchers, it is interested in discovering the dynamic relation between CSR, woman on the board and tax avoidance. For investors, the results show that the existence of female directors on the board reduces the corporate tax avoidance. For regulators, the results advise the worldwide policy maker to give the importance of female roles to improve the engagement firms in CSR reporting.

This paper extends the existing literature by examining the moderating effect of women directors on the relationship between CSR and corporate tax avoidance in the Malaysian context.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of managerial ability on corporate tax risk and long-term tax avoidance using the upper echelons theory.

This study uses a quantitative method with regression models, using a sample of listed firms on the Indonesia Stock Exchange from 2011 to 2018.

The regression results report that managerial ability negatively influences tax risk and positively impacts long-run tax avoidance. Companies with more able managers have a relatively lower tax risk and greater long-run tax avoidance. The results reveal that firms with managers that possess greater abilities are more committed to long-run tax avoidance while concurrently maintaining a lower level of their tax risk. The impacts the authors report are statistically significant and robust, as proved by a series of robustness checks and additional tests.

This study only includes firms from one developing country.

The empirical results might be of interest to board members while envisaging the benefits and costs of appointing and hiring managers, as well as to the tax authority and the other stakeholders interested in apprehending how managerial ability influences corporate tax risk and long-run tax avoidance practices simultaneously.

This study proposes and tests an explanation for the impact of managerial ability on corporate tax risk and long-run avoidance simultaneously in the context of an emerging country.

This review analyzes the existing theoretical and empirical research on the relation between corporate taxation and corporate social responsibility (CSR). By synthesizing the current literature regarding the directional relation between tax avoidance and CSR, the authors are able to identify areas where further research on this relation should be targeted to maximize the public interest.

The authors conduct a literature review of articles published in leading journals in the fields of accounting, finance and management. Reputable working papers are included to support emerging trends in the research and suggest meaningful paths forward.

The literature reveals a complex relation between corporate tax avoidance and CSR. The published research offers theoretical and empirical support for both a substitutive and a complementary directional relation. An actionable takeaway from this review is that corporate taxation must be considered jointly with CSR when seeking to maximize the public interest.

The authors find a rapid influx of research over the past decade that explores the complex directional relation between corporate tax avoidance and CSR. This review will be useful to researchers that are interested in moving beyond a directional characterization of this relation. By synthesizing both established and emerging literature, the authors provide a foundation and direction for future research to examine issues that may directly inform tax or firm policies to increase overall stakeholder welfare.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between political connections and corporate tax aggressiveness in Malaysia. In addition, this paper investigates the relationship between corporate governance variables and corporate tax aggressiveness. Next, the study investigates the mitigating role of corporate governance in the relationship between political connections and corporate tax aggressiveness.

The sample of this study is based on 2,538 firm-year observations during the 2000-2009 periods. This study employs a panel least square regression with both period and industry fixed effects. The study retrieved the corporate governance variables from the downloaded annual reports, whilst the remaining data were collected from Compustat Global.

This study finds that politically connected firms are more tax aggressive than non-connected firms. Furthermore, the study finds that large board size decreases the likelihood of tax aggressiveness and a non-linear relationship exists between institutional ownership and tax aggressiveness suggesting increase in monitoring as the ownership increases. However, the study finds no evidence to suggest that corporate governance mitigates the influence of political connections in promoting tax aggressiveness behavior. The findings suggest that the impact of political connections could outweigh the benefits of changes in corporate governance in Malaysia.

The data are not recent, but it reflects a rather longitudinal research period.

This paper extends the literature of tax research in Malaysia which is in its’ infancy stage. Furthermore, it investigates the role of political connections in tax-planning research.