Explaining the Difference in Countries Level of Tax Avoidance. An Empirical Investigation of Exemplary Drivers

This thesis contributes to the large literature of drivers of tax avoidance, for example tax system characteristics or the degree of tax incidence, by investigating which kind of firms drive the discovered difference in tax avoidance between countries. Thereby, it tries to answer the question which kind of firms benefit the most from common tax mechanisms and thus use them the most. By doing so, this thesis focus on firm characteristics that are not part of the tax system itself, but rather are common characteristics associated with a difference in tax avoidance. Moreover, the research is complemented by investigating some tax related country characteristics to answer the question whether the observed firm-tax avoidance correlations differ depending on certain country-specific factors. The thesis therewith further completes the explanation for the difference between the degree of tax avoidance in different countries