Tax losses: capitalization determinants, impact in financial statements and consumption
Compensación fiscal de pérdidas: Determinantes de su activación, impacto en las cuentas anuales y aprovechamiento de los créditos
Abstract
Among companies incurring tax losses, there may be an incentive to recognize tax credits arising from those, as it results in a decrease in earnings and leverage ratios. Results from our empirical analysis indicate that the decision to recognize tax assets is driven by its positive impact on leverage and by size, and limited by both, the actual possibility to compensate the tax loss carry-forward with future positive earnings and, the risk of failure of the company; thus, management's expectations on future earnings seem to have no impact on the firm's choice. Moreover, we have documented that a small amount of the tax loss carry-forwards is actually applied to compensate future profits (less than 31% of the applicable amount within the five years subsequent to the loss), although the amount is significantly greater (80%) among companies whose tax losses were obtained as a result of negative extraordinary components of earnings. Finally, our findings reveal that accounting standard setters were right when they restricted the recognition of tax credits to those situations in which tax losses arise as a consequence of non-recurring events.
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