Nadine Riedel on the effectiveness of countermeasures against multinational tax avoidance

Nadine Riedel presents at the WIDER Seminar Series on 29 November 2023.

How effective are countermeasures against multinational tax avoidance – new evidence from South Africa

Abstract

Recent decades have seen unprecedented government actions to combat international tax avoidance of multinational firms. Yet, the effectiveness of anti-tax avoidance measures is largely unclear. In this project, we rely on exceptionally rich tax-administrative data from South Africa to determine the impact of a specific type of anti-profit shifting rule—measures again strategic mis-pricing of intra-firm trade—on multinational firm behavior. We document that the rules are effective in constraining tax-strategic trade mis-pricing. Their effects on multinational firms’ overall profit reporting and corporate tax payments in South Africa are nevertheless only moderate, suggesting that firms find alternative ways to reduce their effective tax burden.

About the presenter

Nadine Riedel is the Director of the Institute for Public and Regional Economics at the University of Münster. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Munich in 2008 and was a research fellow at the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation from 2008 to 2010. Prior to joining the University of Münster, she held chairs at the University of Stuttgart-Hohenheim and the University of Bochum. Her research focuses on international corporate taxation and on the intersection of public sector economics with regional and development economics. Her work is published in leading international journals, including the Journal of Public Economics, Journal of International Economics, Journal of Urban Economics and European Economic Review. She acts as editor-in-chief of International Tax and Public Finance and serves on several scientific advisory boards, among others at the German Federal Ministry of Finance.

WIDER Seminar Series

The WIDER Seminar Series showcases the latest research on key topics in development economics. It provides a forum for senior and early-career researchers, both in-house and external, to present recent and ongoing work related to UNU-WIDER’s current work programme.

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