IMF Working Papers

Thin Capitalization Rules and Multinational Firm Capital Structure

By Jennifer Blouin, Harry Huizinga, Luc Laeven, Gaetan Nicodeme

January 24, 2014

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Jennifer Blouin, Harry Huizinga, Luc Laeven, and Gaetan Nicodeme. Thin Capitalization Rules and Multinational Firm Capital Structure, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2014) accessed September 18, 2024
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper examines the impact of thin capitalization rules that limit the tax deductibility of interest on the capital structure of the foreign affiliates of US multinationals. We construct a new data set on thin capitalization rules in 54 countries for the period 1982-2004. Using confidential data on the internal and total leverage of foreign affiliates of US multinationals, we find that thin capitalization rules significantly affect multinational firm capital structure. Specifically, restrictions on an affiliate’s debt-to-assets ratio reduce this ratio on average by 1.9%, while restrictions on an affiliate’s borrowing from the parent-to-equity ratio reduce this ratio by 6.3%. Also, restrictions on borrowing from the parent reduce the affiliate’s debt-to-assets ratio by 0.8%, which shows that rules targeting internal leverage have an indirect effect on the overall indebtedness of affiliate firms. The impact of capitalization rules on affiliate leverage is higher if their application is automatic rather than discretionary. Furthermore, thin capitalization regimes have aggregate firm effects: they reduce the firm’s aggregate interest expense but lower firm valuation. Overall, our results show than thin capitalization rules, which thus far have been understudied, have a substantial effect on the capital structure within multinational firms, with implications for the firm’s market valuation.

Subject: Domestic debt, Economic sectors, External debt, Financial institutions, Public debt, Stocks, Taxes, Thin capitalization rules, Transnational corporations

Keywords: Affiliate debt, Capital structure, Domestic debt, Global, Interest deductibility, Interest expense, Leverage ratio, Leverage restriction, Multinational firm, Rate of inflation, Stocks, Taxation, Thin capitalization rule, Thin capitalization rules, Transnational corporations, WP

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    37

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 2014/012

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA2014012

  • ISBN:

    9781484384442

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941