Using a large US sample, we find a significant and positive relation between patents and corporate tax planning, and the effect is incremental to the effect of R&D on tax planning. We employ a quasi‐natural experiment based on staggered industry‐level innovation shocks to identify the positive causal effect of patents on corporate tax planning. We also find that patents are not associated with tax planning for domestic firms, but their association with tax planning is concentrated in multinational firms, which have the ability to shift domestic income to low‐tax countries. Moreover, we find that the identified effect mainly exists in the post–check‐the‐box (CTB) rule period when shifting income among affiliates becomes more flexible and convenient. Finally, we use two income‐shifting models and find that patents, rather than R&D, facilitate tax planning through an income‐shifting channel. Overall, our results suggest that R&D and patents facilitate firms' tax planning in distinct ways: R&D facilitates tax planning as intended through tax credits and deductions, whereas patents are used by taxpayers to avoid taxes aggressively through income shifting.

中文翻译：

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创新与公司税收筹划：专利与研发的不同作用*

使用大量的美国样本，我们发现专利与公司税收筹划之间存在着显着的正相关关系，其影响是研发对税收筹划的影响的增量。我们采用基于交错的行业级创新冲击的准自然实验来确定专利对公司税收筹划的积极因果关系。我们还发现，专利与国内公司的税收筹划无关，但是专利与税收计划的联系集中在跨国公司，这些跨国公司有能力将国内收入转移到低税率国家。此外，我们发现，当关联企业之间的收入转移变得更加灵活和便捷时，所确定的影响主要存在于复选框后（CTB）规则时期。最后，我们使用两种收入转移模型，发现专利而非研发，通过收入转移渠道促进税收筹划。总体而言，我们的结果表明，研发和专利以独特的方式促进了企业的税收筹划：研发通过税收抵免和扣除促进了税收筹划，而纳税人则通过专利来避免收入转移而积极地避税。