THE DUAL PATHWAY TO TAX STRATEGY: FIRM SIZE AND PROFITABILITY IN TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS SECTOR

This study aimed to examine the effect of capital intensity, institutional ownership, and liquidity on tax management, with firm size as a moderating variable and profitability as a mediating variable, in transportation and logistics companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the 2021–2024 period. The study employed a quantitative approach with an associative-causal design. The population consisted of transportation and logistics companies, and a sample of 14 companies was selected through purposive sampling, resulting in 70 observations over five years. Secondary data were collected from financial statements and annual reports. The data were analyzed using panel data regression with the Common Effect Model, classical assumption tests, and the Sobel test for mediation. The results showed that capital intensity had a significant negative effect on tax management, with a regression coefficient of −9.197 and a significance value of 0.012. Institutional ownership had a significant negative effect, with a regression coefficient of −6.794 and a significance value of 0.020. Liquidity had no significant effect, with a significance value of 0.371. Firm size significantly moderated the effects of capital intensity and institutional ownership on tax management, with significance values of 0.012 and 0.022, but did not moderate the effect of liquidity, with a significance value of 0.435. Profitability mediated the effect of capital intensity on tax management, with a Sobel t-statistic of 2.508, but did not mediate the effects of institutional ownership and liquidity. The adjusted coefficient of determination indicated that 16.29 percent of the variation in tax management was explained by the model. These findings implied that capital intensity and institutional ownership were key determinants of tax management.