Capital Structure and International Debt Shifting

Capital Structure and International Debt Shifting
Author: Mr.Luc Laeven
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 39
Release: 2007-02-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451866038

This paper presents a model of a multinational firm's optimal debt policy that incorporates international taxation factors. The model yields the prediction that a multinational firm's indebtedness in a country depends on a weighted average of national tax rates and differences between national and foreign tax rates. These differences matter because multinationals have an incentive to shift debt to high-tax countries. The predictions of the model are tested using a novel firm-level dataset for European multinationals and their subsidiaries, combined with newly collected data on the international tax treatment of dividend and interest streams. Our empirical results show that corporate debt policy indeed not only reflects domestic corporate tax rates but also differences in international tax systems. These findings contribute to our understanding of how corporate debt policy is set in an international context.

Taxation and Leverage in International Banking

Taxation and Leverage in International Banking
Author: Ms.Grace Weishi Gu
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 35
Release: 2012-11-30
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 147554068X

This paper explores how corporate taxes affect the financial structure of multinational banks. Guided by a simple theory of optimal capital structure it tests (i) whether corporate taxes induce subsidiary banks to raise their debt-asset ratio in light of the traditional debt bias; and (ii) whether international corporate tax differentials vis-a-vis foreign subsidiary banks affect the intra-bank capital structure through international debt shifting. Using a novel subsidiary-level dataset for 558 commercial bank subsidiaries of the 86 largest multinational banks in the world, we find that taxes matter significantly, through both the traditional debt bias channel and the international debt shifting that is due to the international tax differentials. The latter channel is more robust and tends to be quantitatively more important. Our results imply that taxation causes significant international debt spillovers through multinational banks, which has potentially important implications for tax policy.

Curbing Corporate Debt Bias

Curbing Corporate Debt Bias
Author: Ruud A. de Mooij
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 20
Release: 2017-02-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1475578296

Tax provisions favoring corporate debt over equity finance (“debt bias”) are widely recognized as a risk to financial stability. This paper explores whether and how thin-capitalization rules, which restrict interest deductibility beyond a certain amount, affect corporate debt ratios and mitigate financial stability risk. We find that rules targeted at related party borrowing (the majority of today’s rules) have no significant impact on debt bias—which relates to third-party borrowing. Also, these rules have no effect on broader indicators of firm financial distress. Rules applying to all debt, in contrast, turn out to be effective: the presence of such a rule reduces the debt-asset ratio in an average company by 5 percentage points; and they reduce the probability for a firm to be in financial distress by 5 percent. Debt ratios are found to be more responsive to thin capitalization rules in industries characterized by a high share of tangible assets.

Tax Biases to Debt Finance

Tax Biases to Debt Finance
Author: Ruud A. de Mooij
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 25
Release: 2011-05-03
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1463935137

Staff Discussion Notes showcase the latest policy-related analysis and research being developed by individual IMF staff and are published to elicit comment and to further debate. These papers are generally brief and written in nontechnical language, and so are aimed at a broad audience interested in economic policy issues. This Web-only series replaced Staff Position Notes in January 2011.

Tax Policy, Leverage and Macroeconomic Stability

Tax Policy, Leverage and Macroeconomic Stability
Author: International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 78
Release: 2016-12-10
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1498345204

Risks to macroeconomic stability posed by excessive private leverage are significantly amplified by tax distortions. ‘Debt bias’ (tax provisions favoring finance by debt rather than equity) has increased leverage in both the household and corporate sectors, and is now widely recognized as a significant macroeconomic concern. This paper presents new evidence of the extent of debt bias, including estimates for banks and non-bank financial institutions both before and after the global financial crisis. It presents policy options to alleviate debt bias, and assesses their effectiveness. The paper finds that thin capitalization rules restricting interest deductibility have only partially been able to address debt bias, but that an allowance for corporate equity has generally proved effective. The paper concludes that debt bias should feature prominently in countries’ tax reform plans in the coming years.

Capital Structures in Developing Countries

Capital Structures in Developing Countries
Author: Asl? Demirgüç-Kunt
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 44
Release: 1994
Genre: Capital
ISBN:

Variables that predict capital structure in the United States also predict choices of capital structure in a sample of ten developing countries. In several countries, total indebtedness is negatively related to net fixed assets, suggesting that markets for long- term debt do not function effectively.