Research On The Relationship Between Corporate Social Responsibility And Tax Avoidance

Corporate social responsibility(CSR)and tax avoidance both are hot topics in theory and practice field.But the research combined the two is rare,especially inthe domestic.And the relationship between CSR and tax avoidancehas not reachedan agreement yet.Existing research abroad shows us two opposite conclusions.On one hand,corporations may fulfill social responsibility actively based on culture value and improve the degree of tax compliance.On the other hand,they may cover their tax avoidance behavior by social responsibility,in this waytaking CSR as a tool of risk management.Unlike mandatory disclosure influenced by the policy,voluntary disclosure contains more information.Sothis paper selects the data of the corporations that disclose the CSR reports voluntarily from 2013 to 2015,and studies on the relationship betweenCSR and tax avoidance,hoping to enrich related theory and givingsuggestions to relevant parties.A series of positive findings are found.The CSR performance can inhibit the degree of the tax avoidance significantly.Furthermore,sample corporations are divided into different groups by ownership,size,and industry.The results show that the inhibition is mainly manifested in the private enterprises,small and medium-sized enterprises,and non-manufacturing industry.And the inhibition is stronger incorporations with excessive tax avoidance.The conclusions of the paper provide empirical support forthe theory of corporate culture value of social responsibility.And there are some suggestions.First,for listed companies of China,regulators should guide and supervise continually;Second,for non-listed companies,industry associations are assumed to be guides and supervisors for CSR based on industry characteristics;Third,legislation departmentsshould deepen the reform of tax system and perfect the relevant laws and regulations of CSR;Forth,this study offers a brand new perspective for tax authorities,to estimate the possibility and degree of tax avoidance through CSR performance;Fifth,it helpsother stakeholders,such as investors,to recognize the possibility of tax avoidance out of CSR performance,and distinguish different motivation under different disclosure willingness;Sixth,corporations should innovative information disclosure models combined with the environment of the BigData.