پژوهشنامه مالیات
سال هفدهم شماره 55 (زمستان 1388)

One of the newest business activities in recent years is related to the emergenceand development of e-commerce. The extension of e-commerce increases thepossibility of evading from the taxation of new income resources which havetraditionally been taxed in other ways. Having in mind the importance of thismatter, the present research is going to investigate e-tax systems throughout theworld and to introduce a model for the establishment of an electronic taxationsystem in Iran. An infrastructure needed for e-commerce is to provide for securitywhich is very important in the e-commerce environment and for which there is alarge amount of demand. Lack of security in the virtual world can be a barrier tothe development of e-commerce. Our proposed model for the taxation of ecommercein Iran is based upon making use of a secure electronic exchangedatabase whereby the government presents security to users and exchangers and, atthe same time, taxes their e-commerce activities. In this paper, we have usedDelphi method and Sign Non-Parametric / Freidman tests to assess our proposedmodel of e-taxation. The findings obtained are as follows: the best tax category tobe applied to e-commerce is VAT but the Iranian VAT laws and regulations shouldbe modified prior to being applied to e-commerce; the creation of an electronicdatabase by the Iranian government is economically justified; real and legal entitiesin Iran are sufficiently willing to make use of this electronic database; a nationalTIN code is required for the identification and tracing of companies engaged in theelectronic environment; the best way of providing security in an electronicdatabase is to use digital signature and digital certificate; sellers are the best agentsfor the collection of taxes; moreover, there is a need for concluding agreementswith other countries on such topics as the exchange of information and avoidingdouble taxation.

Estimating tax capacity of a region or of the whole country provides theinformation needed for responding to financial and executive problems resultedfrom the implementation of economic policies. The present study aims atestimating tax capacities of the two tax categories, “business and professionincome tax” and “corporate income tax” in the Iranian provinces through makinguse of the data of some effective variables. To this end, we have explored thevariables involved in tax revenues of the provinces, and by using data of 28different provinces within the time span 1379-1385 (2000-2006), we have resortedto SFA method to estimate the efficiency of each tax category in question in any ofthe Iranian provinces. According to the findings obtained, as for the business andprofession income tax, the average tax efficiency of developed provinces(excluding Tehran Province) for the period in question has been 72.3% while it hasbeen 66.5% in less developed provinces. And as for corporate tax income, theaverage tax efficiency of developed provinces (excluding Tehran Province) hasbeen 47.8% while it has been 72.4% in less developed provinces. The presentresearch has calculated the “tax inefficiency” of each province as the gap betweenthe potential and realized legal capacities. As for tax effort indices, the results showthat over time, the average tax effort has decreased for business and professionincome tax but it has increased for corporate income tax.

Just like other developing countries, in the recent decade, the importance andsignificance of taxes in the Iranian economy has attracted the attention of economicresearchers and that of policy makers. In the present paper, while I will focus onone of the most important aspects of tax system, i.e. the whole set of incentives;effective tax rates will be calculated and analyzed from a macro-economicstandpoint. The most important issues are the efficiency of tax incentive systemand the working of effective rates. To do the task, I have simulated the time seriesin question and, by using Neo-classic Growth Theory and Jorgenson’s Theory oncapital cost and defining the investment path, I have explored the impacts ofinvestment cost and its components and the impacts of some other variables. Thefindings indicate that tax exemptions do not work as incentives and do not have aconsiderable impact on investment. However, assets depreciation system may beused as an alternative tax incentive to invoke investment.

This paper is aimed at exploring the relationship between taxes and market structure within the framework of the relationships among three variables “industry’s monopolist power” (market concentration degree), “tax” (corporate income effective tax rate), and “company’s start up costs” (represented by “capital inventory”). The period covered is 1995-2005. The estimation has been done through making use of Schumpeter, Galbraith, and Sutton’s ideas. Findings of this paper are consistent with Schumpeter and Sutton’s ideas since they show that with an increase in the tax rates, the market monopolist power increases while an increase in the capital inventory will make it more difficult for the firms to get into the industry and as a result, both the market monopolist power and the market concentration degree will go up.

The existence of widespread inflation in different societies and the complexity of financial analysis methods as well as the variety of the needs of internal/external users of such analyses in combination with sensitivities of decision making authorities all together have necessitated the presentation of realistic information to be used in financial reporting processes. Reassessment of fixed assets, in its turn, is a result of such changes. The present research aims at exploring the impacts of reassessment of assets of companies on the disclosure of their real assets and their actual income taxes. This research makes use of both descriptive (correlation) and survey study methods. In addition to the data gathered from the administration of a researcher-made questionnaire, some information needed (data of 2001-2007) has been extracted from financial statements of companies running under the supervision of Industrial Development and Renovation Organization of Iran (IDRO) and Iranian Mines and Mining Industries Development and Renovation Organization (IMIDRO). Research findings indicate that there is a strong effective relationship between reassessment of assets and the disclosure of companies’ real assets. On the other hand, reassessment of assets has affected the income taxes of the companies in question though in a one-way manner.

Although the Iranian tax system has been trying to make some tax reformsincluding the introduction of VAT system and despite the fact that there havealready been some important tax reforms, many structural problems with theIranian taxation system still remain. In order to make structural tax reforms aimedat improving the current status of the Iranian tax system, we may apply twodifferent approaches: first, introducing new tax categories, and second, improvingthe performance of existing tax bases. The present paper is, first of all, aimed atexploring theoretical and applied issues relevant to capital gains, and then involvesitself in studying the economic impacts of this tax category followed byinvestigating other countries’ experiences in relation to CGT. The findingsobtained indelicate that in order to establish a CGT system in Iran, we are requiredto take into consideration such fundamental issues as real/unreal gains, longterm/short-term gains, adjustments made on the bases of inflation rates anddepreciation of the acquired gains, the difference between capital gains andindividuals’ ordinary incomes, and the way you may treat capital losses as opposedto capital gains. As for CGT economical impacts, the findings obtained show thatthe introduction of such a tax category may influence such economical variables asinvestment, savings, companies’ fiscal policies, the families assets combination,capital costs, the demands for assets, and the number of exchanges of assets. Theefficiency of CGT in respect of having desirable impacts on some of the abovementionedvariables is ultimately a function of different methods applied to theintroduction of this tax category.

Since a few years ago, many countries have realized the unique and exceptionalrole of taxes as the only global instrument for making economical the investmentson housing markets within the capital market through the vehicle of REITinvestment and as such, they establish their REIT markets one after another.Through making use of the modern financial institution of REIT (i.e., through theapplication of modern REIT technology to Iranian markets) with all its fiscal andfinancial characteristics, it will be possible to organize tax categories for housingmarkets and to tax the transactions of their securities in the capital markets. It isalso possible to improve the working of the existing tax system through thestandardization of processes and monitoring in both the capital and housingmarkets. The critical role of taxes in improving business environments in thehousing market through the REIT financial instrument and in decreasing theinvestment risks both in the capital market and in Tehran Stock Exchange can notbe ignored. The present paper is aimed at introducing the REIT financialinstrument and at presenting the results of a field-comparative study being done onthe topic of “investing on the housing market through the capital market” focusingon “its advantages and opportunities for the Iranian tax system”.