Influence of Share-Based Payment Plans on the Tax Aggressiveness of Financial Companies Listed on B3

Abstract

This article aimed to investigate the influence of share-based payment (SBP) on the tax aggressiveness of Brazilian financial and banking companies listed on B3, from 2019 to 2023. The sample consisted of 58 financial companies, including 20 banks. The methodology used multiple linear regression with panel data and random effects for financial companies, and multiple linear regression with stacked (pooled) data for banks. The descriptive analysis results suggested that financial companies and banks that compensated executives with SBP presented lower tax aggressiveness averages than entities that did not do so. However, the econometric models demonstrated that SBP did not impact the tax aggressiveness of financial companies. For banks, a significant negative relation was observed between SBP and tax aggressiveness, when measured by the effective tax rate on accounting profit (GaapEtr), not rejecting hypothesis H2. In conclusion, share-based payment influenced the tax aggressiveness in Brazilian banks, measured by the GaapEtr rate, but not in financial companies, for both variables. The main contribution of this study lies in the collaboration for the development of a more robust literature on tax aggressiveness in financial institutions and banks, considering the relevance of the nominal tax burden of these institutions in the country.