This study presents important evidence for the use of tax-related cash and examines its meaning and implications through an empirical study on how companies allocate and utilize related cash internally for cash generated by not paying taxes.
This stud...
This study presents important evidence for the use of tax-related cash and examines its meaning and implications through an empirical study on how companies allocate and utilize related cash internally for cash generated by not paying taxes.
This study conducted an empirical analysis of listed companies in Korea exchange from 2012 to 2019. I compared the allocation and use of tax-related cash and after-tax cash flow for all sample companies and examined the differences. Also I classified companies with high and low financial constraints, companies with high and low tax risks, and companies that belong to and not belong to business groups, and I checked whether there was a difference in the allocation and use of tax-related cash and its relevance.
The research results are as follows. First, as a result of comparing the internal allocation and use of tax-related cash and post-tax cash flow, no corroborating evidence was found regarding the relationship between tax-related cash and actual investment, cash holdings, and investment in securities. It is interpreted that Korean companies internally allocate and use operating cash flow and tax-related cash mainly for repayment of debt-related purposes, regardless of the risk of tax repayment inherent in tax-related cash. Second, in the case of companies with a high level of financial constraints, companies with high tax risk, and companies belonging to business groups, no corroborating evidence on the relationship between tax-related cash and real investments, cash holdings and securities investment has been confirmed. it was confirmed the relationship between cash holdings in companies with low levels of financial constraints. Third, in the case of companies with a high level of financial constraints, it was confirmed that a lot of tax-related cash was used to reduce their dependence on external borrowing statistically significantly. Firms with high financial constraints have a relatively high risk of default on repayment of borrowings in terms of capital raising, so the cost of borrowing capital increases, and it can be interpreted that firms with high financial constraints use their tax-related cash to reduce their dependence on external borrowing to reduce their high cost of capital. Fourth, it was confirmed that companies with lower tax risk are allocating more of their tax-related cash to cash holdings. Companies with low tax risk try to maintain tax flexibility and continuity in terms of tax strategy. Accordingly, it is interpreted that companies with low tax risk have an incentive to hold tax-related cash inside the company to cover non-tax costs (financial reporting costs, agency costs, political costs, etc.) caused by tax avoidance. Fifth, it was confirmed that companies that do not belong to business groups are allocating more of their tax-related cash to cash holdings. Due to the specificity of the business group, it is possible to raise funds within the business group, and the cost of internal financing is lower than the cost of debt capital. Therefore, it is interpreted that tax-related cash is allocated and used more for repayment of debts with a relatively high cost of capital rather than for real investments. Finally, as a result of the regression analysis before and after the introduction of the corporate earings circulation tax, it is difficult to say that the policy effect of the corporate earings circulation tax has occurred.
This study used cash flow variables measured for 3 years for listed companies in Korea to show the difference and evidence for the allocation of tax-related cash and after-tax cash flow by use, and can be useful for understanding how companies allocate and use tax-related cash internally. In addition this study provides important implications for a closer understanding of the characteristics of tax-related cash allocation and relevance by use according to financial constraints, tax risk, and business group.