법인세비용의 가치관련성 연구: 법인세비용의 역할을 중심으로

The current study examines the value relevance of tax expenses. Prior studies have focused on the value relevance of earnings (operating income). However, there are not many studies investigating the value relevance of tax expenses. Especially, there is a significant gap between theoretical expectations and empirical evidence. For example, one suggests that there should be a negative relation between firm value and tax expenses because of the matching principle between revenue and expense. The others, however, suggest that there should be a positive relation between firm value and tax expenses because of the role of information contents from tax expenses. Prior studies also argue that the value relevance of tax expenses is determined by the choice of research model and/or sample selection. This study examines the effect of two confounding theories on the value relevance of tax expenses and research method and sample selection with 12,132 firm-year observations from the Korean stock market. In sum, the price-test provides evidence that the tax expenses have a negative relation with the firm value, however, the return-test shows that the tax expenses have a positive effect on the firm value. This implies that the price-test highlights the matching principle between revenue and expenses, especially tax expenses. It also implies that the return-test puts more weights on the information contents of tax expenses. Thus, researchers should interpret the results in prior studies with cautions because the results depend on research method and/or sample selection.