중소기업의 조세회피에 대한 연구

We compare the degree of tax avoidance between small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and non-SMEs. We also examine whether tax avoidance of SMEs change when they list on a stock exchange. SMEs are subject to various support programs under government policy and receive tax benefits such as tax credit and tax exemption under tax laws. Thus, SMEs and non-SMEs would likely differ in their degree of tax avoidance. Because SMEs have less motivation to avoid taxes, SMEs are likely to have less degree of tax avoidance compared to non-SMEs. Especially, SMEs are not likely to have the resources to hire tax engineers and tax consultants to avoid taxes. For non-listed SMEs planning to list on a stock exchange, external scrutiny on the manager will become greater and these firms would have less incentive for tax avoidance which may have negative implications to firm reputation or stock prices. Thus, tax avoidance is likely lower around the IPO process. We find that SMEs exhibit less tax avoidance compared to non-SMEs. Also, SMEs show low levels of tax avoidance after listing. The contribution of this study is three-fold. First, this study extends the field of tax research related to SMEs. Second, we examine how exchange listing for SMEs affects tax avoidance. Third, we provide important insights to tax authorities about tax avoidance of SMEs thereby pointing out what factors to consider in policy making.