Determinants of Tax Avoidance in Idxcarbon Issuers with Firm Size as a Moderator
Abstract
The objective of this study is to examine the effect of profitability, leverage, and capital intensity on tax avoidance, with firm size serving as a moderating variable. The population includes companies with carbon projects listed on the Indonesia Carbon Exchange (IDXCarbon), encompassing both publicly listed entities and those in the Letter of Intent (LoI) stage. Using purposive sampling, a total of 48 observations from 8 companies were selected. Data analysis was conducted using Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA) via EViews 13 statistical software. The empirical results demonstrate that profitability has a significant negative effect on the cash effective tax rate (CETR), which implies an increase in tax avoidance. This suggests that higher profit levels incentivize management to act opportunistically in minimizing their tax burden. Conversely, leverage exhibits a significant positive effect on CETR (indicating lower tax avoidance), as strict monitoring from creditors pressures companies to maintain compliance and avoid aggressive tax strategies. Capital intensity shows a significant negative effect on CETR (indicating higher tax avoidance), meaning that firms utilize massive depreciation from their fixed assets as a legitimate tax shield. Furthermore, the findings reveal that firm size does not significantly moderate the effects of profitability, leverage, and capital intensity on tax avoidance. These results imply that internal economic incentives and external creditor monitoring universally dominate the tax decisions of carbon project companies, regardless of the firm's operational scale.
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