Abstract

FERRER, María Alejandra. European multinational companies: profitability and "fiscal paradises". Innovar [online]. 2009, vol.19, n.35, pp.81-97. ISSN 0121-5051.

The object of this work was to study the profitability of European multinational companies present in "fiscal paradises", territories characterised by their low or non-existent tax payment systems. It tries to evaluate whether operating within such jurisdictions supposes greater profitability for stockholders' investment (financial profitability or return on equity - ROE). A sample of 24 companies whose observations corresponded to 2000-2006 was available for this investigation. Contrary to what was expected, the results showed that multinational companies engaged in operations in "fiscal paradises" obtained profitability which was not significantly different to that of the profitability of companies only operating in "non-paradise" countries. These results probably arose because the available information was not precise due to the lack of transparency and an effective exchange of information, thereby hampering real data being obtained about multinational companies' investment activities in such territories.

Keywords : profitability; multinational company; fiscal paradise.

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