Examination of the Effects of the Managerial Ability on Tax Avoidance

Tax avoidance appears when there are legal gaps in tax laws, easing to reduce taxes, and occurs by transferring income to low tax regions or by transfer pricing. In the most of previous researches, the emphases were on certain features of companies, representing factors affecting tax avoidance, and in some recent studies, the personality features of corporate managers were regarded as significant determinants of tax avoidance. In the latter, managerial ability was shown as determinant of tax avoidance.
This study aims at re-examination of the effects of managerial ability on tax avoidance, using a sample of 106 companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange, TSE, in the years 2007-2015. The measures indicating tax avoidance for firms in the TSE, were the effective rate of cash tax and the difference between accounting earnings and taxable earnings. To proceed with the research objectives, two hypotheses were taken on and tested, using multivariate linear regression method. The findings showed that managerial ability has significant positive effect on tax avoidance in the TSE. Also, the findings showed that the size of the company and financial leverage have significant indirect effects on tax avoidance.