Immobilizing corporate income shifting: Should it be safe to strip in the harbor?

Thomas Gresik, Dirk Schindler and Guttorm Schjelderup

Journal of Public Economics, 2017, vol. 152, issue C, 68-78

Abstract: Many subsidiaries can deduct interest payments on internal debt from their taxable income. By issuing internal debt from a tax haven, multinationals can shift income out of host countries through the interest rates they charge and the amount of internal debt they issue. We show that, from a welfare perspective, thin capitalization rules that restrict the amount of debt for which interest is tax deductible (safe harbor rules) are inferior to rules that limit the ratio of debt interest to pre-tax earnings (earnings stripping rules), even if a safe harbor rule is used in conjunction with an earnings stripping rule.

Keywords: Multinational; Income-shifting; Safe harbor; Earnings stripping (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H26 H73 K34 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Immobilizing Corporate Income Shifting: Should It Be Safe to Strip in the Harbor? (2016)
Working Paper: Immobilizing Corporate Income Shifting: Should it be Safe to Strip in the Harbour? (2015)
Working Paper: Immobilizing Corporate Income Shifting: Should It Be Safe to Strip in the Harbor? (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:pubeco:v:152:y:2017:i:c:p:68-78

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2017.06.001

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