Research on ESG Performance and Tax Avoidance

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the impact of a company's ESG scores on tax avoidance and to test whether these relationships are the same in recent and past years. The results of the study were as follows： First, as a result of the test of hypothesis 1, the relationship between ESG variables and BTD_R was shown in the direction of a significant amount (＋) at the level of 1%. The same results were also found in the relationship between ESG variables and BTD. This is inconsistent with the predicted hypothesis. Second, when the dependent variable is BTD_R, ESG scores and tax avoidance are significantly positively (＋) at the 5% level for the 2020-2021 sample. On the other hand, in samples of the past two years and the interim two-year sample, ESG scores and tax avoidance did not show a significant association. In addition, when the dependent variable was BTD, there was no significant association between ESG scores and tax avoidance in the sample from 2020 to 2021. On the other hand, the relationship between ESG scores and tax avoidance was significantly negative in the 2012-2013 sample, and the same results were seen when the study sample was from 2015 to 2016. This study studied the effect of ESG integrated scores on tax avoidance, and is significant in that the conclusions were drawn by dividing the study sample by dividing the period (recent and past). However, in the case of this study, the criteria for dividing the study period into the last two years or the last three years are vague, and in subsequent studies, it is necessary to study environmental, social, and governance from their respective perspectives.