租稅風險與信用風險及負債資金成本之關聯性：兼論股利政策之調節效果

Tax Risk, Credit Risk and Cost of Debt Capital: The Moderating Effect of Dividend Policy

美國財務會計準則委員會於2006年發布了對美國所得稅會計準則的解釋公報48號（FIN48），FIN48要求公司評估其稅務申報事項之不確定性，並以「未認列租稅利益」之名詞進行揭露。本研究之目的係以2014年至2017年台灣上市櫃公司為研究樣本，探討公司租稅風險與信用風險及負債資金成本間之關聯性，並檢測股利支付政策對上述關係之調節效果。實證結果顯示，當公司之租稅風險愈高時，會提高公司的違約風險，且會產生較高的負債資金成本。在考量股利支付率之調節變數後，本研究更進一歩發現，公司股利支付率愈高，則強化租稅風險與信用風險及與負債資金成本間之正向關係。本研究結果顯示公司租稅風險提供有用的資訊給信評機構及債權人，以做為評估公司信用風險之參考。

The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) has released its Interpretation No. 48 (FIN 48) on Accounting for Uncertainty in Income Taxes in June 2006. FIN 48 requires companies to assess the uncertain of their tax reporting and discloses them under the term of unrecognized tax benefits in financial statements. Using Taiwanese listed firms from 2014 to 2017 as research sample, this study aims to explore the effect of a corporation’s tax risk and credit risk on the cost of debt capital, as well as to examine the moderating effect of dividend payout ratios on the aforementioned relationship. The results reveal that when facing a higher tax risk, the company’s default risk becomes increased, then it leads to higher cost of debt capital. Furthermore, this positive relationships between tax risk, credit risk, and debt capital cost are more pronounced in companies with high dividend payout ratios. The implication of the study is to provide credit rating agencies and creditors the useful information on tax risk when they assess the company’s credit risk.