ABSTRACT

This article argues that it is more appropriate to model the relation between deferred tax accruals and subsequent tax payments using a first-difference model rather than the levels model employed in the extant literature. We then use the difference model to assess the conceptual conformity of deferred tax accruals by testing if changes therein predict changes in tax payments. Using a combined sample of British and German firms we report conceptual conformity for deferred tax liabilities but not for deferred tax assets. By allowing UK and German firms to have different relations between deferred tax accruals and tax payments, we investigate the impact of country-specific factors, including the taxation system, on this predictive ability. We find conceptual conformity for deferred tax liabilities in both countries but report conceptual conformity for deferred tax assets only for German firms. Finally, we find that the introduction of the Accounting Law Modernization Act (Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz (BilMoG)) in Germany in 2010 has brought the relation between changes in deferred tax accruals and changes in future tax payments of German and UK firms much closer together. Currently, the only notable difference between UK and German firms related to deferred tax liabilities pertains to the lag between changes in deferred tax liabilities and changes in tax payments that we attribute to differences in the tax depreciation rates of each country.

摘要

本文认为，使用一阶差分模型而不是现有文献中采用的水平模型来对递延税款应计额和后续纳税之间的关系进行建模更合适。然后，我们使用差异模型通过测试递延税款应计额的变化是否可以预测纳税的变化来评估递延税款应计额的概念一致性。使用英国和德国公司的组合样本，我们报告了递延税负债的概念一致性，但没有报告递延税资产的概念一致性。通过允许英国和德国公司在递延税款应计额和纳税之间具有不同的关系，我们调查了特定国家因素（包括税收制度）对这种预测能力的影响。我们发现这两个国家的递延税负债概念一致，但仅报告德国公司的递延税资产概念一致。最后，我们发现德国2010年颁布的《会计法现代化法案》（Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz (BilMoG)）使德国和英国企业的递延税款应计变化与未来纳税变化之间的关系更加紧密。目前，英国和德国公司与递延税负债相关的唯一显着差异在于递延税负债变化与纳税变化之间的滞后，我们将其归因于各国税收折旧率的差异。我们发现，2010年德国会计法现代化法案（Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz (BilMoG)）的出台，使德国和英国企业递延税款应计变化与未来纳税变化之间的关系更加紧密。目前，英国和德国公司与递延税负债相关的唯一显着差异在于递延税负债变化与纳税变化之间的滞后，我们将其归因于各国税收折旧率的差异。我们发现，2010年德国会计法现代化法案（Bilanzrechtsmodernisierungsgesetz (BilMoG)）的出台，使德国和英国企业递延税款应计变化与未来纳税变化之间的关系更加紧密。目前，英国和德国公司与递延税负债相关的唯一显着差异在于递延税负债变化与纳税变化之间的滞后，我们将其归因于各国税收折旧率的差异。