Risk Assessment of the Corporate Tax Policies

In this study the relationship between tax avoidance and tax risk was investigated by measuring tax risk based on uncertainty approach using data collected from 114 companies during the years 2009 to 2015. For this purpose, the lower effective tax rate (ETR) and non-steady tax situation over time is considered as tax avoidance and tax risk, respectively. The results show that a significant negative relationship exists between the effective tax rate and tax risk. It means that companies with lower ETR cannot continuously preserve their low level of taxes, and therefore their tax risk would be high. Hence, the policy of decrease in taxes due to its uncertainty is risky tax avoidance. This finding provides new evidence about the impact of tax policy on the overall company performance. The results also show that income fluctuation increases tax risk and tax risk of small companies is higher than the big ones. Moreover, the financial leverage can reduce tax risk due to consequential regulatory mechanisms. It is noteworthy to mention that the findings of this study can be used in risk assessment of the corporate tax policies.