Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/242365 
Year of Publication: 
2021
Series/Report no.: 
Beiträge zur Jahrestagung des Vereins für Socialpolitik 2021: Climate Economics
Publisher: 
ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Kiel, Hamburg
Abstract: 
This paper investigatesthe effect of firms' internal digitalization on the performance of business support functions such as the tax department. We put forward a novel, micro-level IT sophistication index based on a survey monitoring European firms' digital infrastructure. Following the objective function of maximizing after-tax returns, we measure tax-efficient decisions in terms of minimizing the firm's worldwide tax burden. We show that internal digitalization boosts firms' ability to relocate income to tax-favored jurisdictions. We confirm this result using two plausibly exogenous shocks. First, we exploit a business software supply shock and provide evidence that the adoption of digital technologies enhances efficient crossborder tax planning. Second, using an event study design, we show that digitalized firms promptly adjust reported profits in response to income shifting incentive shocks. Overall, we show that digital infrastructure is a crucial foundation for timely, data-driven decision making and increases support functions' performance.
Subjects: 
Digital Transformation
Digitalization
Firm Performance
Decision Making,Information Technology
Tax Planning
JEL: 
O33
L25
H25
H26
K34
Document Type: 
Conference Paper

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