All over the world, the tax avoidance practices of large multinational firms have received much media attention over the last few years, which has become a prominent reputational risk for many firms. In addition to the possible reputational risk stemming from corporate tax avoidance, these tax practices can also have dire consequences for the economies in which these firms operate. Global tax transparency initiatives were developed in an attempt to address the issues created by global tax avoidance. There is, however, little academic evidence on whether increased tax transparency can have an effect on corporate tax avoidance. The purpose of this study is therefore to investigate the relationship between tax transparency and tax avoidance. A content analysis was firstly used to qualitatively assess the extent of tax transparency disclosures in the annual corporate reports of the top 100 firms listed on the JSE. Thereafter, a regression analysis was used to determine the relationship between tax transparency and tax avoidance. Tax transparency scores were used as a proxy to measure tax transparency while both effective tax rates and cash effective tax rates were used as a proxy to measure tax avoidance. The study finds that firms which are more transparent in the disclosure of their tax affairs also have higher effective tax rates and cash effective tax rates.

在世界范围内，大型跨国公司的避税行为在过去几年受到媒体的广泛关注，这已成为许多公司面临的突出声誉风险。除了公司避税可能带来的声誉风险之外，这些税收做法还会对这些公司经营所在的经济体产生可怕的后果。制定全球税收透明度倡议是为了解决全球避税造成的问题。然而，关于提高税收透明度是否会影响企业避税的学术证据很少。因此，本研究的目的是调查税收透明度与避税之间的关系。内容分析首先用于定性评估在 JSE 上市的前 100 家公司的年度公司报告中税收透明度披露的程度。此后，回归分析被用来确定税收透明度和避税之间的关系。税收透明度分数被用作衡量税收透明度的代理，而有效税率和现金有效税率都被用作衡量避税的代理。研究发现，税务信息披露更透明的公司也有更高的有效税率和现金有效税率。税收透明度分数被用作衡量税收透明度的代理，而有效税率和现金有效税率都被用作衡量避税的代理。研究发现，税务信息披露更透明的公司也有更高的有效税率和现金有效税率。税收透明度分数被用作衡量税收透明度的代理，而有效税率和现金有效税率都被用作衡量避税的代理。研究发现，税务信息披露更透明的公司也有更高的有效税率和现金有效税率。