Thustrup Kreiner, Leth-Petersen, and Ebbesen Skov publicerer i AER

Claus Thustrup Kreiner et al. (2014), Year-End Tax Planning of Top Management: Evidence from High-Frequency Payroll Data, American Economic Review: Papers & Proceedings 2014, 104(5): 154–158

Using Danish high-frequency payroll data and tax reform variation we detect year-end tax avoidance among top managers. 5-7 percent of top managers exploit year-end tax planning strategies to save taxes. Around 30 percent of the top managers engaging in year-end tax avoidance do so by retiming bonus payments while the rest shift regular wage income. However, bonus timing is most tax sensitive. When considering all of the top managers receiving a December bonus, we find that more than 1 out of 4 retime the bonus payment whereas only 5 percent of those not receiving a bonus shift regular wage income.