问询函会影响企业实际税率吗——来自中国上市公司的证据

Will the Inquiry Letter Affect the Effective Tax Rate of the Enterprise?Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

近年来非行政处罚性监管越来越成为维护资本市场稳定的重要手段,据此本文以证券交易所出具的问询函为研究对象,收集2014—2019年中国A股上市公司数据,检验企业收到问询函对实际税率的影响。研究发现,收到问询函后,上市公司实际税率有所提高,当问询函涉及税务问题且涉及的税务问题数量越多时,其对实际税率的提高作用越强;这一作用主要通过降低企业的代理成本来实现。进一步的研究发现,问询函对企业实际税率的影响因产权性质、政治关联、当地税务机关执法力度的差异而有所不同;相较于国有企业、政治关联企业以及当地税务执法力度较强的企业,问询函对实际税率的提高在民营企业、无政治关联企业、执法力度更弱的企业中更显著。本文的研究结果表明,问询函对企业实际税率具有监管作用,可以作为监管上市公司、维护市场稳定的手段。本文不仅丰富了新近关于问询函的研究,也对相关机构监管手段的创新有重要启示。

In recent years,non-administrative punitive supervision has become an important means to maintain the stability of the capital market.This paper takes the inquiry letter issued by the stock exchange as the research object,uses Python and manual reading method to collect the data of the Chinese A-share listed companies questioned from 2014 to2019,and tests the impact of effective tax rate when enterprises receiving the inquiry letter.It is found that the effective tax rate of listed companies increases after receiving the inquiry letter,and when the inquiry letter involves more tax issues and the number of questions related to tax,the increase of the effective tax rate is more obvious.This effect is mainly because the inquiry letter reduces the agency cost of enterprises.Furthermore,the effect of the inquiry letter on the effective tax rate is different due to the nature of property rights,whether there is political connection or not,and the difference of law enforcement by local tax authorities.Compared with state-owned enterprises,politically connected enterprises and enterprises with strong local tax enforcement,the effect of inquiry letter on effective tax rate is more significant in private enterprises,non-politically connected enterprises and enterprises with weaker law enforcement.The research results show that inquiry letter has a regulatory effect on the effective tax rate of enterprises,and can be used as a means to supervise listed companies and maintain market stability.It not only enriches the recent research on the inquiry letter,but also has important implications for the innovation of regulatory means of relevant institutions.