소유경영자의 조세회피와 기업가치에 관한 실증연구: 코스닥 기업을 중심으로 (An Empirical Study on the Tax Avoidance Tendency and Corporate Value of Owner-Managers: Focused on KOSDAQ Firms)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 대한경영학회
· 수록지 정보 : 대한경영학회지 / 35권 / 2호 / 353 ~ 373페이지
· 저자명 : 송하림, 최문수

초록

본 연구에서는 코스닥 등록기업을 대상으로 기업지배구조를 소유경영자와 전문경영인으로 구분하여조세회피 성향이 서로 다르게 나타나는지를 실증 분석하였다. 또한, 조세회피가 기업가치에 미치는 영향이소유경영자와 전문경영인에 따라 다르게 나타나는지를 실증 분석하였다. 본 논문에서는 2011년부터2019년까지 코스닥에 등록된 기업을 중심으로 실증연구를 진행하였다. 코스닥 기업 대부분은 지배구조가비교적 단순한 중소 및 중견기업이다. 이러한 특성 때문에 지배구조 관점에서 경영자의 조세회피 행태와기업가치의 관계를 비교적 명확하게 살펴볼 수 있다. 분석 결과에 의하면 소유경영자는 전문경영자보다조세회피 성향이 낮은 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구의 추가적인 분석 결과에 의하면 이는 조세회피로 인한 재무적, 비재무적 비용이 전문경영인보다 소유경영자의 경우에 더 크게 발생함으로써 기업가치의 하락이 더 크게발생하기 때문으로 나타났다. 따라서, 본 연구의 결과는 조세회피로 인한 비용과 이익 간의 균형 관계를 전제로최고경영자의 지분이 많을수록 조세회피를 꺼린다는 기존 연구의 결과에 대하여 추가적인 설명을 제시한다.
우리나라의 경우, 미국 등과는 달리 재무제표에 보고된 회계이익과 과세소득의 차이가 크지 않다. 따라서과세소득을 낮춰 조세회피가 이뤄지면 회계이익 감소 위험도 수반돼 결과적으로 기업의 가치 하락을 초래할수 있다. 조세회피 전략에 따른 비용이 혜택보다 크고 소유경영자가 기업가치 하락을 우려한다면 소유경영자는소극적인 조세회피 성향을 보이게 된다. 본 논문의 한계는 소유경영자와 전문경영인 분류에 대한 다양한 정의가존재하므로 이에 대한 신뢰성을 확보하는 것이다. 이를 극복하기 위해 본 논문에서는 복수의 정의를 사용하여구분하였다. 또한, 회계이익과 과세소득의 차이를 이용해 조세회피 정도를 측정하는 방법은 모든 기존의연구들이 지적한 바와 같이 이를 정확하게 측정할 수 없다는 점에서 한계가 있다. 향후, 더욱 정교한 조세회피측정 방법이 개발될 필요가 있다고 하겠다.

영어초록

This paper empirically examines the tax avoidance behavior of managers in a corporate governance framework. Specifically, this paper explores whether the level of corporate tax avoidance between owner-managers and professional managers differs. It then explores the effect of tax avoidance on corporate value which has been rarely studied in the current literature. If there exist the costs and benefits of tax avoidance and the trade-off between them becomes the criteria for managers' decision-making related to tax avoidance, it can affect corporate value and the extent of its impact on corporate value can differ depending on corporate governance. Thus, this paper examines whether the impact of tax avoidance on corporate value differs between owner-managers and professional managers.
Empirical research is conducted focusing on firms registered on the KOSDAQ over the period from 2011 to 2019. Most of the KOSDAQ companies are small and medium-sized firms with relatively simple corporate governance. These characteristics make it easier to examine the tax avoidance behaviors of managers and their effects on corporate value from the perspective of corporate governance. According to the analysis results, it is found that owner-manager firms do not actively engage in tax avoidance compared to professional-manager firms and the higher the owner-manager ownership (50% or more), the less aggressive tax avoidance. It is thought that owner-managers are more aware that the costs outweigh the benefits due to tax avoidance compared to professional managers. Further analyses show that the negative impact of owner-managers' tax avoidance on firms' market value is significantly greater than that of professional managers. Thus, investors in the capital market perceive that the costs of avoiding tax for owner-managers outweigh the benefits, compared to professional managers. Such costs may include non-tax costs such as damage to the reputation of managers and their firms. Owner-managers are also concerned with passing their firms to their descendants. The family-related concern may force owner-managers to focus on family-related goals at the expense of financial goals. These non-tax costs can cause a more decline in the value of owner-manager firms than that of professional-manager firms.
In Korea, there is not much difference between taxable income and accounting profit reported in financial statements. Therefore, if tax avoidance is achieved by lowering taxable income, it can also lead to a decrease in accounting profits, thereby resulting in a decline in corporate value. If the cost of the tax avoidance strategy is greater than the benefits and the owner-managers are concerned about a decline in corporate value, they are forced to show a passive tax avoidance tendency.
The results of this paper suggest that investors in capital markets recognize that the costs of tax avoidance exceed its benefits and the extent to which the costs outweigh the benefits is greater for owner-manager firms than for professional-manager firms. Therefore, by studying the relationship between tax avoidance and corporate value, we can understand the decision-making process related to tax avoidance based on the trade-off between the costs of tax avoidance and its benefits from the perspective of corporate governance. This is our contribution to the current literature.
As a limitation, it remains a task to secure the reliability of the definition of owner-manager classification. In addition, the methodology of measuring tax avoidance propensity using the difference between financial reporting income and taxable income has a limitation in that it may not accurately measure tax avoidance propensity. A more sophisticated tax avoidance measurement method needs to be developed in the future.

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