Search Results
Journal Article
Profit Shifting Through Intellectual Property
Patent data can give us insights on profit shifting due to multinationals moving intellectual property to tax havens.
Working Paper
IPOs and Corporate Taxes
How does going public affect firms’ tax obligations and tax planning? Using a panel of U.S. corporate tax return data from 1994 to 2018, we compare tax payments for firms that completed an IPO with those that filed for an IPO but later withdrew and remained private. We find that in the years immediately following IPO completion, firms have a higher probability of paying taxes and pay more U.S. tax. The effects occur regardless of tax status in the pre-IPO period and are not explained by statutory limitations imposed on the use of pre-IPO losses. Higher income reported for financial ...
The Puzzle of Multinationals’ Profits: Why Tax Havens Yield Higher Returns
An analysis examines how U.S. multinationals’ tax and profit-shifting strategies might affect yields on direct investment in tax havens versus G7 economies.
Journal Article
Global Profit Shifting through Intellectual Property and the Impact of US Tax Reforms
Evidence on patent transactions suggests that multinational enterprises engage in profit-shifting practices by transferring patents to tax havens.
Working Paper
Offshore Profit Shifting and Domestic Productivity Measurement
Official statistics display a significant slowdown in U.S. aggregate productivity growth that begins in 2004. We show how offshore profit shifting by U.S. multinational enterprises affects GDP and, thus, productivity measurement. Under international statistical guidelines, profit shifting causes part of U.S. production generated by multinationals to be excluded from official measures of U.S. production. Profit shifting has increased significantly since the mid-1990s, resulting in lower measures of U.S. aggregate productivity growth. We construct an alternative measure of value added that ...
Profit Shifting in the 21st Century: Multinationals’ Use of Intrafirm Patent Transfers
An analysis indicates that a high percentage of U.S. patents that shifted to tax havens like Bermuda are intrafirm transfers. Such transfers may be a tax avoidance strategy by multinationals.