[go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bubdp1/200919.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Does lowering dividend tax rates increase dividends repatriated?: evidence of intra-firm cross-border dividend repatriation policies by German Multinational Enterprises

Author

Listed:
  • Leibrecht, Markus
  • Bellak, Christian
  • Wild, Michael
Abstract
This paper explores the impact dividend taxes exert on the dividends repatriated from foreign affiliates to their German parent company. Based on an augmented Lintner model of firms' dividend payout decisions, the paper focusses on cross-border intra-firm dividend payments of wholly-owned foreign affiliates in the manufacturing sector. Firm-level data from the Microdatabase Direct Investment (MiDi) of the Deutsche Bundesbank is used. Results firstly signal the validity of the original Lintner model for cross-border intra-firm dividend payments of German affiliates abroad, although the target payout ratio and the degree of dividend smoothing drops substantially once timeinvariant unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for. Secondly, results from an augmented Lintner model imply that increases in dividend taxes indeed have a statistically significant negative impact on the expected value of dividends repatriated: Evaluated at the overall mean dividend payment a one percentage point increase in the dividend tax rate would decrease dividends repatriated by about 3.5 percent. Evaluated at the mean of positive dividend payments a semi-elasticity of -1.6 is derived.

Suggested Citation

  • Leibrecht, Markus & Bellak, Christian & Wild, Michael, 2009. "Does lowering dividend tax rates increase dividends repatriated?: evidence of intra-firm cross-border dividend repatriation policies by German Multinational Enterprises," Discussion Paper Series 1: Economic Studies 2009,19, Deutsche Bundesbank.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:200919
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/27745/1/607702656.PDF
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Grubert, Harry, 2001. "Enacting Dividend Exemption and Tax Revenue," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(4), pages 811-827, December.
    2. Grubert, Harry, 2001. "Enacting Dividend Exemption and Tax Revenue," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 54(n. 4), pages 811-27, December.
    3. Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2005. "Simple solutions to the initial conditions problem in dynamic, nonlinear panel data models with unobserved heterogeneity," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 20(1), pages 39-54, January.
    4. Skinner, Douglas J., 2008. "The evolving relation between earnings, dividends, and stock repurchases," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 582-609, March.
    5. Raj Chetty & Emmanuel Saez, 2005. "Dividend Taxes and Corporate Behavior: Evidence from the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 791-833.
    6. Jeffrey R. Brown & Nellie Liang & Scott Weisbenner, 2007. "Executive Financial Incentives and Payout Policy: Firm Responses to the 2003 Dividend Tax Cut," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1935-1965, August.
    7. James Poterba, 2004. "Taxation and Corporate Payout Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(2), pages 171-175, May.
    8. Altshuler, Rosanne & Grubert, Harry, 2003. "Repatriation taxes, repatriation strategies and multinational financial policy," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 73-107, January.
    9. Stephen Bond & Michael Devereux & Alexander Klemm, 2005. "Dissecting dividend decisions: some clues about the effects of dividend taxation from recent UK reforms," IFS Working Papers W05/17, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Grubert, Harry, 1998. "Taxes and the division of foreign operating income among royalties, interest, dividends and retained earnings," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(2), pages 269-290, May.
    11. Alfons J. Weichenrieder & Jack Mintz, 2008. "What determines the use of holding companies and ownership chains?," Working Papers 0803, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    12. Rosanne Altshuler & T. Scott Newlon & Joel Slemrod, 1993. "The Effects of U.S. Tax Policy on the Income Repatriation Patterns of U. S . Multinational Corporations," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in International Taxation, pages 77-116, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Andres, Christian & Betzer, André & Goergen, Marc & Renneboog, Luc, 2009. "Dividend policy of German firms: A panel data analysis of partial adjustment models," Journal of Empirical Finance, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 175-187, March.
    14. Roger Gordon & Martin Dietz, 2006. "Dividends and Taxes," NBER Working Papers 12292, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James R. Jr., 2001. "Repatriation Taxes and Dividend Distortions," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 54(4), pages 829-851, December.
    16. Rosanne Altshuler, 1995. "Do Repatriation Taxes Matter? Evidence from the Tax Returns of U.S. Multinationals," NBER Chapters, in: The Effects of Taxation on Multinational Corporations, pages 253-276, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Benartzi, Shlomo & Michaely, Roni & Thaler, Richard H, 1997. "Do Changes in Dividends Signal the Future or the Past?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1007-1034, July.
    18. Adaoglu, Cahit, 2000. "Instability in the dividend policy of the Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) corporations: evidence from an emerging market," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(3), pages 252-270, November.
    19. Andrew Benito & Garry Young, 2003. "Hard Times or Great Expectations? Dividend Omissions and Dividend Cuts by UK Firms," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 65(5), pages 531-555, December.
    20. Correia da Silva, Luis & Goergen, Marc & Renneboog, Luc, 2004. "Dividend Policy and Corporate Governance," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199259304.
    21. Tehmina Khan, 2006. "Company Dividends and Ownership Structure: Evidence from UK Panel Data," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 116(510), pages 172-189, March.
    22. Rosanne Altshuler & James R. Hines Jr. & R. Glenn Hubbard, 1995. "Tax Planning, Timing Effects, and the Impact of Repatriation Taxes on Dividend Remittances," NBER Chapters, in: Taxing Multinational Corporations, pages 63-72, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    23. von Eije, Henk & Megginson, William L., 2008. "Dividends and share repurchases in the European Union," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(2), pages 347-374, August.
    24. Marsh, Terry A & Merton, Robert C, 1987. "Dividend Behavior for the Aggregate Stock Market," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(1), pages 1-40, January.
    25. Giovannini, Alberto & Hubbard, R. Glenn & Slemrod, Joel (ed.), 1993. "Studies in International Taxation," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, edition 1, number 9780226297019, September.
    26. Loudermilk, Margaret S., 2007. "Estimation of Fractional Dependent Variables in Dynamic Panel Data Models With an Application to Firm Dividend Policy," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 25, pages 462-472, October.
    27. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:6:p:2451-2487 is not listed on IDEAS
    28. Nicolas Depetris Chauvin & Aart Kraay, 2007. "Who Gets Debt Relief?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 5(2-3), pages 333-342, 04-05.
    29. Ambra Poggi, 2007. "Does persistence of social exclusion exist in Spain?," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 5(1), pages 53-72, April.
    30. James J. Heckman, 1981. "Heterogeneity and State Dependence," NBER Chapters, in: Studies in Labor Markets, pages 91-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Timothy Goodspeed & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Li Zhang, 2011. "Public Policies and FDI Location: Differences between Developing and Developed Countries," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 67(2), pages 171-191, June.
    2. M. Jonathan C. Eklund, 2022. "Do multinational firms respond to personal dividend income tax rates?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1743-1771, April.
    3. Jarkko Harju & Seppo Kari, 2017. "Dividend Taxes and Decisions of MNEs: Evidence from a Finnish Tax Reform," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 63(1), pages 45-77.
    4. Gomes Nogueira, Caroline & Padilla, Ramón, 2015. "Determinants and home-country effects of FDI outflows: Evidence from Latin American countries," Estudios y Perspectivas – Sede Subregional de la CEPAL en México 38914, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    5. Harendt, Christoph & Dreßler, Daniel & Overesch, Michael, 2016. "The Impact of Tax Treaties and Repatriation Taxes on FDI Revisited," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145588, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Eduardo C. Oliveira & Michele N. Juca, 2021. "Multinational Dividend Policies: A Systematic Literature Review to Future," International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), International Journal of Economics & Business Administration (IJEBA), vol. 0(1), pages 442-465.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hanlon, Michelle & Heitzman, Shane, 2010. "A review of tax research," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(2-3), pages 127-178, December.
    2. Dong, Qi Flora & Cao, Yiting & Zhao, Xin & Deshmukh, Ashutosh, 2019. "Responses of US multinational firms to a temporary repatriation tax holiday: A literature review and synthesis," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 108-123.
    3. Booth, Laurence & Zhou, Jun, 2017. "Dividend policy: A selective review of results from around the world," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 1-15.
    4. Jennifer Blouin & Linda Krull, 2009. "Bringing It Home: A Study of the Incentives Surrounding the Repatriation of Foreign Earnings Under the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 1027-1059, September.
    5. Gordon, Roger H. & Hines, James Jr, 2002. "International taxation," Handbook of Public Economics, in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 28, pages 1935-1995, Elsevier.
    6. Michael P Devereux, 2007. "The Impact of Taxation on the Location of Capital, Firms and Profit: a Survey of Empirical Evidence," Working Papers 0702, Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation.
    7. Muhammad Tahir & Haslindar Ibrahim & Abdul Hadi Zulkafli & Muhammad Mushtaq, 2020. "Influence of Exchange Rate Fluctuations and Credit Supply on Dividend Repatriation Policy of U.S. Multinational Corporations," Journal of Central Banking Theory and Practice, Central bank of Montenegro, vol. 9(special i), pages 267-290.
    8. Jarkko Harju & Seppo Kari, 2017. "Dividend Taxes and Decisions of MNEs: Evidence from a Finnish Tax Reform," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 63(1), pages 45-77.
    9. Hasegawa, Makoto & Kiyota, Kozo, 2017. "The effect of moving to a territorial tax system on profit repatriation: Evidence from Japan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 92-110.
    10. M. Jonathan C. Eklund, 2022. "Do multinational firms respond to personal dividend income tax rates?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(4), pages 1743-1771, April.
    11. James R. Hines Jr., 2005. "Do Tax Havens Flourish?," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 19, pages 65-100, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Desai, Mihir A. & Hines Jr., James R., 2008. "Market reactions to export subsidies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(2), pages 459-474, March.
    13. Jacob, Martin & Alstadsæter, Annette, 2013. "Payout policies of privately held firms: Flexibility and the role of income taxes," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 152, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    14. Maier, Christoph & Schanz, Deborah, 2017. "Towards neutral distribution taxes and vanishing tax effects in the European Union," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 215, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    15. Wiji Arulampalam & Mark B. Stewart, 2009. "Simplified Implementation of the Heckman Estimator of the Dynamic Probit Model and a Comparison with Alternative Estimators," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 71(5), pages 659-681, October.
    16. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2002. "Dividend Policy inside the Firm," NBER Working Papers 8698, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Driver, Ciaran & Grosman, Anna & Scaramozzino, Pasquale, 2020. "Dividend policy and investor pressure," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 559-576.
    18. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines Jr., 2002. "Chains of Ownership, Regional Tax Competition, and Foreign Direct Investment," NBER Working Papers 9224, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    19. Michele Fabrizi & Antonio Parbonetti & Elisabetta Ipino & Michel Magnan, 2016. "Do Foreign Cash Holdings Generate Uncertainty for Market Participants?," CIRANO Working Papers 2016s-22, CIRANO.
    20. Mr. Alexander Lehmann & Mr. Ashoka Mody, 2004. "International Dividend Repatriations," IMF Working Papers 2004/005, International Monetary Fund.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dividend policy; taxes; lintner model; multinational enterprise;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G35 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Payout Policy
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:bubdp1:200919. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dbbgvde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.