Accounting and Non-accounting Concepts of Effective Tax Rates and their Effects on Tax Planning in State-owned Companies

The study examines the link between different modalities of effective tax rates in state-owned entities in Serbia and how those rates can be used to distinguish between SOEs using tax planning and those not inclined to tax planning techniques. Results show that state-owned companies in Serbia owned by local municipalities and cities are using tax planning to obtain lower effective tax rates than the statutory rate, therefore, using their preferential tax status from size and ownership. The study shows that cash flow-based effective tax rates and combined tax rates are better predictors of tax planning than accounting-based effective tax rates for state-owned firms.