The Role of Managerial Ability in Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange

In this study, the effect of managerial ability have been studied on tax avoidance in the companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. The Indicators used to measure avoid paying tax are the book effective tax rate, the cash effective tax rate and long-run cash effective tax rate. The sample includes 122 companies listed in Tehran Stock Exchange for 87 to 93.  The results showed that there is positive significant relationship between managerial ability and the three proxies used to avoid paying taxes. This means that higher ability managers engaging in more tax  avoidance  activities  that  reduce  their  firms’  cash  tax  payments. On the other hand, the results indicate that firms have good performance, managers with a high level of ability engaging in less tax  avoidance  activities. In general, the results show that in addition to the features of the firm, managerial ability influences the tax avoidance behavior of the firm.