Home or Away? Profit Shifting with Territorial Taxation

Author/Editor:

Dominika Langenmayr ; Li Liu

Publication Date:

September 9, 2022

Electronic Access:

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Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary:

In 2009, the United Kingdom abolished the taxation of profits earned abroad and introduced a territorial tax system. Under the territorial system, firms have strong incentives to shift profits abroad. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we show that the profitability of UK subsidiaries in low-tax countries increased after the reform compared to subsidiaries of non-UK multinationals in the same countries by an average of 2 percentage points. This increase in profit shifting also leads to increases in measured productivity of the foreign affiliates of UK multinationals of between 5 and 9 percent.

Series:

Working Paper No. 2022/177

Frequency:

regular

English

Publication Date:

September 9, 2022

ISBN/ISSN:

9798400216992/1018-5941

Stock No:

WPIEA2022177

Pages:

38

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