BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF FINANCE ----------------------- GRADUATION THESIS TITLE: THE IMPACT OF TAX AVOIDANCE ON FIRM’S PROFITABILITY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM REAL ESTATE FIRMS IN VIETNAM Student : Ha Ngoc Tung Class : K20CLCE Student ID : 20A4050411 Supervisor : Assoc. Le Thi Dieu Huyen Hanoi, May 2021 17014129033761000000 BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF FINANCE ----------------------- GRADUATION THESIS TITLE: THE IMPACT OF TAX AVOIDANCE ON FIRM’S PROFITABILITY: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM REAL ESTATE FIRMS IN VIETNAM Student : Ha Ngoc Tung Class : K20CLCE Student ID : 20A4050411 Supervisor : Assoc. Le Thi Dieu Huyen Hanoi, May 2021 DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work in design and execution under the supervision of Ass. Le Thi Dieu Huyen.
The thesis has not been applied for any degree and it is not concurrently submitted in candidate of any other similar titles elsewhere. Hanoi, May 2021 The author Ha Ngoc Tung ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I offer my sincerest gratitude to all of my lecturers in Banking Academy of Vietnam who have guided and inspired me throughout the unforgettable four-year process. I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation to my supervisor, Assoc. Le Thi Dieu Huyen for her patience, knowledge and dedication.
Without her profound academic knowledge, I could not receive from many constructive comments and valuable suggestions she has given me, which I found very helpful to not only complete this thesis but also to improve my research-related skills and cognition. The author Ha Ngoc Tung i TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION. 1 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK.1 Literature review of the impact of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability.2 Theoretical framework of firm’s profitability.3 Theoretical framework of tax avoidance.4 Theories about the relationship between tax avoidance and firm’s profitability.19 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND MODEL.2 Fixed-effects method (FEM).Random-effects method (REM).4 GeneralizedLeast Squares method (GLS). 26 CHAPTER 3: EMPIRICAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.2 Pearson correlation coefficient.1 Results of Pool OLS, FEM & REM.2 Result of GLS model.
36 ii CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION.1 For firm’s management.2 For further studies. 46 iii LIST OF ABBREVIATION ABBREVIATION MEANING ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations BTD Book-tax difference CFO Cash flows from operations CIT Corporate income tax COGS Cost of goods sold EBIT Earnings before interest and taxes ETR Effective tax rate FEM Fixed-effects method GAAP Generally Accepted Accounting Principles GLS Generalized least squares method GMM Generalized method of moments HOSE Ho Chi Minh Stock Exchange IRS Internal Revenue Service OCF Operating cash flow OLS Ordinary least squares PIT Personal income tax PM Philip Morris (Financial Ratios) iv REM Random-effects method ROA Return on assets ROE Return on equity ROIC Return on invested capital SEC U. Securities and Exchange Commission VAT Value added tax VECM Vector error correction mode v LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES TABLE/ FIGURE PAGE Table 2.1: Relationship between independent variables and 31 firm’s profitability in previous studies.1: Statistical description 32 Figure 3.2: Correlation coefficient result 33 Figure 3.3: Multicollinearity test’s result 34 Figure 3.4: Wooldridge test’s result 34 Table 3.5: Regression results from OLS, FEM and REM 35 Table 3.6: Regression results from GLS 37 1 INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale Taxation has played as a crucial instrument of fiscal policy in not only regulating country’s economy but also implementing tons of investments to produce sustainable growth to several sectors as well as infant industries.
Notably, there exists an inevitable conflict that the government always seeks to optimizing the tax revenues, whereas firms as taxpayer always try to minimum the amount of tax they must pay. Traditional theory claims tax avoidance as a magical tool in profit-maximizing activity without violating the tax laws, and so is firm’s mindset. In the quest to reduce the costs of taxation, all means can be employed as long as they are not illegal in the country to raise efficiency, thereby reducing their Effective Tax Rate (ETR). The relationship between tax avoidance and firm’s profitability has been a controversial topic which draws great attention to the general public researchers from the majority of developed nations but carrying such ignorance among those of developing nations over the past decades.
As a rising country with robust economic growth rates in ASEAN region, Vietnam has witnessed itself as one of the most time-consuming and complex tax systems (Brown, 2020). Missing tax deadlines such as late report submission, under-declare liabilities or on-time payment failure can push firms into heavy penalties and reputational damage. In recent years, tax violations in Vietnam is quite common not only in multinational corporations, but also in state-owned and private domestic firms towards different types of tax like corporate income tax (CIT), value added tax (VAT), personal income tax (PIT),… Globalization pose an opportunity for Vietnamese businesses to expand and integrate rapidly into both regional and international markets, from which tax avoidance and evasion becomes bigger in scale, unpredictable and sophisticated in conspiracy. According to the Vietnam General Department of Taxation, over the period of 2010-2018, tax inspection has proceeded and detected a total of 642,423 businesses violating CIT with recollected tax revenue of 35,922.
As 2 expected, numbers of violating firms tripled throughout nine-year period, from 31,759 in 2010 to 95,936 in 2018; the total declination of loss adjustment after tax inspection increases by almost four times, from 10,841.9 billion VND in 2010 to 40,914.56 billion VND in 2018, contributing to the upward surge in tax revenue for government budget, from 1,783.7% of CIT income) in 2010 to 7,144.4% of CIT income). Moreover, the Department also discovered potential loss of tax income due to the incredible amount of real estate transactions either manipulated or unreported by firms, including vacant land, buildings, apartments and other properties. Taking a closer look at real estate firms in Vietnam, almost every stage of a business life cycle was captured in this industry over the above tax-inspecting duration. Initially, after the global financial crisis, these firms suffered from the edge of crisis and completely fell into the frozen period during 2011-2013.
After that, the real estate market maintained stable with a gradually four-year recovery until recording visible growth in 2017 and 2018. To survive through the decline stage, it is vital for the management to consider every factors affecting firm’s profitability. Due to weaknesses of Vietnam tax regulation regarding property and real estate, firms operating in this sector possibly turned those loopholes into phenomena to do tax avoidance. For all these reasons, this thesis will identify: “The impact of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability: Empirical evidence from real estate firms in Vietnam”.
Research questions and purposes Research questions Question 1: What is the theoretical framework of tax avoidance and firm’s profitability? Question 2: How does tax avoidance have an impact on firm’s profitability? Question 3: What is the empirical results for the impact of tax avoidance on real estate firm’s profitability in Vietnam? Question 4: What are the recommendations for firm’s management? 3 Research purposes Purpose 1: Representing the theoretical framework of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability. Purpose 2: Clarifying the impact of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability based on literature review from previous studies. Purpose 3: Producing empirical results for the impact of tax avoidance on real estate firm’s profitability in Vietnam through regression models. Purpose 4: Verifying several suggestions for firm’s management to preserve/improve its profitability.
Research subject and scope Research subject: The impact of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability Research scope: Object: 17 real estate firms listed on HOSE Time frame: Ten-year period from 2010 to 2019 4. Research method Qualitative method: This thesis applies several qualitative tools such as statistical methods, analysis, comparison, synthesis and illustrative tables/graphs. Quantitative method: This thesis applies several regression methods including OLS, FEM, REM and GLS for a collected sample of 17 listed real estate firms operating during 2010 - 2019. Handful of quantitative tests such as White, F, Wooldridge, Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier (LM) and Hausman tests are used to detect if those regression methods have any defects (autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity) for pointing out the most reliable and appropriate regression model.
Research structure CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW CHAPTER 2: DATA, METHODOLOGY AND MODEL CHAPTER 3: EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS 4 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 1.1 Literature review of the impact of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability 1.1 Foreign studies The impact of tax avoidance on firm profitability is crucial but under- researched, and recent empirical literature provides mixed findings at best (Chen et al. Tax avoidance can impose both direct and indirect influences on corporate current and future cash flows because it can boost cash flows through reducing (current and/or future) tax liabilities. As taxes account for a considerable portion of the focal firm’s cash flow, the diversion of money from state to shareholders should increase the shareholders’ wealth. Intriguingly, other corporate strategies, such as corporate social responsibility, can interfere and interact with tax planning, moderating the individually potential impact of tax avoidance on firm performance (Ling & Wahab, 2018, 2019).
Wang (2010) supports the positive link between tax planning and firm profitability by showing that more information- transparent firms are prone to engage in tax avoidance. Wang (2010) further investigates the reaction of investors to tax avoidance and documents positive reaction to this corporate strategy. Inger (2013) also finds a robust and positive association between firm performance and tax avoidance with different measures of tax-reducing tactics. Nevertheless, it appears that negative consequences of tax avoidance on firm’s profitability are also abundant.
These include the overly complicated business transactions involved to prepare for the avoidance, which clouds the genuine financial performance, increasing information asymmetry. In turn, this condition stimulates the empire-building activities of managers. Additionally, tax avoidance can increase risks of litigation, reputational losses and reception of penalties from tax authorities if detected (Cook et al., 2017; Dyreng et al., 2016; Graham et al. The negative link between tax avoidance and firm performance has been pervasive in the literature, due to the issues of increased 6 agency cost and information asymmetry (Chen et al., 2014; Hanlon & Slemrod, 2009; Zhang et al.
Incredibly, Desai and Dharmapala (2009) find an insignificant impact of tax avoidance on firm value, but emphasized that only tax avoidance of firms with higher levels of institutional ownership (thus better governance mechanism) is positively related to firm profitability. The authors argue that the agency conflicts arising from tax reduction are contained with more institutional ownership, which increases firm performance. Hanlon and Slemrod (2009) document a negative reaction of investors to tax shelter disclosure, implying that investors disprove the managerial diversion and earnings management associated with tax avoidance. Consistent with Desai and Dharmapala (2009), Hanlon and Slemrod (2009) find that firms with better governance can temper the negative link.
Similarly, Jimenez- Angueira (2018) argues that as external monitoring improves, tax avoidance decreases. Employing a sample of 4,104 Chinese firm-year observations from 2001 to 2009, Chen et al. (2014) find that tax avoidance is negatively related to firm value measured by Tobin Q. Accordingly, Chinese investors do not appreciate firms that avoid tax liabilities since these activities can help managers cover their rent-seeking behavior.
Furthermore, information transparency can alleviate negative impact of tax avoidance on firm performance. Also, using data covering Chinese firms, Tang et al. (2019) add that managerial power reduces tax avoidance. A number of studies find that firms with opaque financial reporting increase the complexity in their operations (Bushman et al., 2004; Frank et al.
In line with the above theme, Majeed and Yan (2019) find a commendable effect of information transparency in terms of financial reporting comparability in reducing tax avoidance. The authors argue that with better reporting comparability managerial activities are monitored more effectively, therefore increasing the likelihood of aggressive avoidance being detected. Majeed and Yan (2019) opine that analyst coverage serves as a substitute for comparability, confirming the importance of information transparency. The findings are robust to various 7 measures of comparability and tax avoidance, as well as methodological approaches.
In general, lower information asymmetry helps monitor managerial activities more efficiently.