Tax avoidance : the role of profitability, sales growth, corporate social responsibility, corporate size and age

The aim of the study is to determine factors contribute to tax avoidance in Indonesia, an emerging economy in Southeast Asia. It also looks for analyze how the profitability, corporate growth, Corporate Social Responsibility, and firm characteristics (size and age) relate to tax avoidance. It analyses manufacturing company collected from Indonesia Stock Exchange between 2016-2019 period using multivariate analysis. It applied effective tax rate as a proxy for corporate tax avoidance, CSR performance disclosure index for CSR and Return on Assets for profitability. The results of this study confirmed that the effect of sales growth and corporate size on tax avoidance is statistically supported. Contrarily, profitability, CSR, and corporate age have not significant associated with corporate tax avoidance. Our findings suggest that in manufacture sectors, CSR instrument is applied not only as a strategic tool to increase firm reputation, but also to increase tax saving. Future study is highly recommended to exploit the role of corporate governance on tax avoidance by comparing developed and emerging economies.