The first empirical research project in the UK into tax avoidance has just received a funding grant from The British Academy. The project will be managed by Dr Ahmed Aboud from the University of Portsmouth.
The funding will be used to examine the relationship between tax avoidance and the quality of reporting by multinational companies in the UK. In 2013 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) introduced the Country by Country Reporting (CbC reporting).
The new reporting was implemented to promote transparency and be used to look at whether companies are paying the ‘right’ amount of tax in the ‘right’ place. Dr Aboud’s project will look at how effective this newly implemented legislation has been on multinational companies with a turnover of more than 750m euros between 2008 and 2018.
This will be the first study to examine the relationship between CbC reporting and tax evasion in the UK. Our findings will provide important and relevant feedback to the UK Government, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission.
Dr Aboud, from the University's Business and Law faculty, said: “This will be the first study to examine the relationship between CbC reporting and tax evasion in the UK. Our findings will provide important and relevant feedback to the UK Government, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission.”
Large companies payments of corporate taxes are considered as a pivotal element of a firm’s corporate and social responsibility. Practices can positively contribute to the country’s social welfare and, more generally, to the larger economic system of a country. The transparency of these payments is becoming a crucial international debate.
Dr Aboud said: “It is very exciting to have secured this funding. Taxation is vital to the character and functioning of a country. Tax avoidance can seriously affect a Government’s ability to deliver the public with all kinds of public goods and services. I believe the completion of this project will have both academic, economic and social impacts.”
It is very exciting to have secured this funding. Taxation is vital to the character and functioning of a country. Tax avoidance can seriously affect a Government’s ability to deliver the public with all kinds of public goods and services. I believe the completion of this project will have both academic, economic and social impacts.
The project will commence in December and will be completed in February 2021.
Professor Gioia Pescetto, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, University of Portsmouth, said: “We are proud of what University of Portsmouth researchers have already achieved in the Business and Law faculty and excited about what Dr Aboud’s work may reveal within this crucial international taxation debate.”