This book examines tax transparency as part of multinational
enterprises' corporate social responsibility (CSR). It considers
revelations like the Panama and Paradise Papers that shed light on
corporations' tax practices and the growing public dissatisfaction,
resulting in legislative projects, such as the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) base erosion and profit shifting.
Tax transparency is defined as companies' voluntary disclosure of
numerical tax data (e.g. taxes paid by country) and other tax-related
information (e.g. tax policies). It is set apart from tax avoidance and
tax evasion to clarify the often-blurred concepts.
In this book, tax transparency is placed in a historical context and
possible drivers and hindering factors to tax transparency are
investigated. Tax transparency is discussed in the light of
socio-economic theories (stakeholder, legitimacy, institutional theory
and reputation risk management), as well as economic theories (agency
theory, signalling, proprietary costs) and information overload theory.
The book provides examples of tax transparency development of the
largest multinational enterprises in five countries (France, Germany,
UK, Finland and USA) in six years, 2012-2017, a period featuring
increased media coverage of tax matters and legislative movement in the
OECD and the European Union. The future of tax transparency is discussed
in light of quality characteristics, assurance of information and
potential use of artificial intelligence.
Companies' managers and tax and CSR specialists benefit from the book by
gaining insight into how to design transparent, high-quality tax
reporting. Assurance professionals can use information about the quality
criteria of tax transparency. Regulators can track historical
development and see examples of voluntary tax transparency in companies'
reporting. Scholars and students obtain theoretical framework for
analysing the tax transparency phenomenon and the ability to distinguish
between the concepts of tax transparency, planning, avoidance and
evasion.
