Relationship between Social Capital and Tax Avoidance in Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between social capital and tax avoidance of the companies listed in the Tehran Stock Exchange, TSE, in the years 2005-2016. Method: In this study, a sample consisting of 103 companies was reviewed by document mining method, and inferential data analysis method was used to analyze the data. Eviews software and Panel Data method were used to test the research hypothesis. Result: Findings showed that there is no relationship between social capital and tax avoidance in the TSE. The results also indicated that social capital has a negative correlation with tax avoidance based on tax expense. However, this relationship is not significant, and also, social capital is not related to the amount of tax payment of company. Conclusion: The results indicate that companies do not consider the external environment and the society in which they are active, when they are involved in taking internal decisions such as tax avoidance, and that low and high levels of social capital cannot affect the decisions on corporate tax avoidance in the firms.

Keywords

• tax avoidance
• social capital
• peer companies
• social norms