Income Shifting and Tax Avoidance of Korean Business Groups using Related Party Transactions

Abstract

This paper examines whether Korean business group firms shift income using related party transactions and lower short－term and long－term cash effective tax rates than other firms. Results of short－term analysis using annual CETR show that tax avoidance increases as related party transactions in business group firms increase. Tax avoidance using sales/revenue transactions with related parties is found irrespective of business group affiliation. On the other hand, tax avoidance using purchase/expense transactions with related parties is found only in business group firms. Business group firms with high tax rates achieve tax avoidance using related party transactions, and tax avoidance in business group firms with high tax rates is mainly occurred from purchase/expense transactions with domestic related party firms and sales/revenue transactions with foreign related party firms. For long－term analysis, tax avoidance using related party transactions is found to be more pronounced than that for short－term analysis. Tax avoidance using related party transactions is found to be achieved not only by the domestic related party firms but also by sales/revenue transactions with foreign related party firms, and tax avoidance using sales/revenue transactions with the domestic related party firms is increased in business group firms. In addition, tax avoidance is achieved through purchase/expense transactions with foreign related party firms, but tax avoidance does not increase discriminately in business group firms.