Mandatory Information Exchange, Cross-Border Income Shifting, and the Physical Flow of Tangible Goods
研究发现，美国与外国司法管辖区之间的双边税收信息交换协议显著减少了美国企业从这些地区的进口量，但企业会转向同一子区域的其他地区进口，导致总进口变化不大。
ABSTRACT We examine whether mandatory tax information exchange agreements between governments have real effects on firms’ physical trade in tangible goods. We posit that some of the physical trade in tangible goods flowing through low-tax jurisdictions is intended to facilitate income shifting. As such, shocks to enforcement via mandatory information exchange agreements could cause firms to change the physical flow of goods. Using firm-level shipping container data, we find that adoption of bilateral tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) between the U.S. and foreign jurisdictions is associated with significant decreases in the volume of imports by U.S. firms from those jurisdictions. We also find reallocation effects: U.S. firms increase imports from jurisdictions in the same subregion as the treated jurisdiction, resulting in minimal overall change in total imports. To our knowledge, ours is the first study to document a connection among enforcement-related tax disclosure, income shifting, and physical trade flows. Data Availability: The data used in this study are available from the sources cited in the paper. JEL Classifications: F14; F18; F23; H25; H26.