Corporate Taxes, Profit Shifting and the Location of Intangibles within Multinational Firms

Matthias Dischinger and Nadine Riedel

Discussion Papers in Economics from University of Munich, Department of Economics

Abstract: Intangible assets are one major source of profit shifting opportunities due to a highly intransparent transfer pricing process. Our paper argues that multinational enterprises (MNEs) optimize their profit shifting strategy by locating shifting–relevant intangible property at affiliates with a low statutory corporate tax rate. Using panel data for European MNEs and controlling for unobserved time–constant heterogeneity between affiliates, we find that the lower a subsidiary’s tax rate relative to other affiliates of the multinational group the higher is its level of intangible asset investment. This effect is statistically and economically significant, even after controlling for subsidiary size and accounting for a dynamic intangible investment pattern.

Keywords: corporate taxation; multinational enterprise; profit shifting; intangible assets; micro level data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C33 F23 H25 H26 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-pbe and nep-pub
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Corporate Taxes, Profit Shifting and the Location of Intangibles within Multinational Firms (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:lmu:muenec:4450

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