Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability
This paper estimates the impact of registering for taxes on firm profits in Bolivia, the country with the highest levels of informality in Latin America. A new survey of micro and small firms enables the authors to control for a rich set of measure...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8887984/pay-firms-register-taxes-impact-formality-firm-profitability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7536 |
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okr-10986-75362021-04-23T14:02:35Z Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability McKenzie, David Sakho, Yaye Seynabou ACCESS TO INFORMATION BANK LOAN BANK POLICY BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS BUSINESS ENTRY BUSINESS REGISTRATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL STOCK CARS COMMERCE CREDIT MARKET CUSTOMER BASE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DUMMY VARIABLE DUMMY VARIABLES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EMPLOYMENT ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEURS EXCLUSION FINANCIAL SYSTEM FIRM PERFORMANCE FIRM SIZE FIRM SIZES FIRMS GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM GPS INFORMATION DATABASE INFORMATION PROVISION INSPECTION INSPECTIONS INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK LICENSE LICENSES LIQUIDITY LIVING STANDARDS LOAN MANUFACTURING MARGINAL COEFFICIENT MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MICRO ENTERPRISES MICROENTERPRISES MULTINATIONALS NEIGHBORHOODS PASSENGERS PENSION PENSION FUND PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVITY REGISTRATION PROCESS REGISTRY RESULT RESULTS RETURN ROAD SMALL ENTERPRISES SMALL FIRMS STORES SUPPLIER SUPPLIERS TAX TAX ENFORCEMENT TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBER TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS TAX OFFICES TAX RECEIPTS TAX REFUNDS TRADE CREDIT TRANSPORT TRANSPORTATION TRAVEL COSTS TRAVEL DISTANCES USES WEALTH WEB WORKING CAPITAL Microdata Set This paper estimates the impact of registering for taxes on firm profits in Bolivia, the country with the highest levels of informality in Latin America. A new survey of micro and small firms enables the authors to control for a rich set of measures of owner ability and business motivations that can affect both profits and the decision to formalize. The paper identifies the impact of tax registration on business profitability using the distance of a firm from the tax office where registration occurs, conditional on the distance to the city center, as an instrument for registration. Proximity to the tax office provides firms with more information about registration, but is argued to not directly affect profits. The findings show that tax registration leads to significantly higher profits for the firms that the instrument affects. However, there is also evidence of heterogeneous effects of tax formality on profits. Tax registration is found to increase profits for the mid-size firms in the sample, but to lower profits for both the smaller and larger firms, in contrast to the standard view that formality increases profits. The analysis shows that owners of large firms who have managed to stay informal have higher entrepreneurial ability than formal firm owners, in contrast to the standard view (correct among smaller firms) that informal firm owners have low ability. 2012-06-08T15:59:51Z 2012-06-08T15:59:51Z 2007-12 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8887984/pay-firms-register-taxes-impact-formality-firm-profitability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7536 English Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4449 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research Latin America & Caribbean Bolivia |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
ACCESS TO INFORMATION BANK LOAN BANK POLICY BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS BUSINESS ENTRY BUSINESS REGISTRATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL STOCK CARS COMMERCE CREDIT MARKET CUSTOMER BASE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DUMMY VARIABLE DUMMY VARIABLES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EMPLOYMENT ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEURS EXCLUSION FINANCIAL SYSTEM FIRM PERFORMANCE FIRM SIZE FIRM SIZES FIRMS GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM GPS INFORMATION DATABASE INFORMATION PROVISION INSPECTION INSPECTIONS INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK LICENSE LICENSES LIQUIDITY LIVING STANDARDS LOAN MANUFACTURING MARGINAL COEFFICIENT MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MICRO ENTERPRISES MICROENTERPRISES MULTINATIONALS NEIGHBORHOODS PASSENGERS PENSION PENSION FUND PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVITY REGISTRATION PROCESS REGISTRY RESULT RESULTS RETURN ROAD SMALL ENTERPRISES SMALL FIRMS STORES SUPPLIER SUPPLIERS TAX TAX ENFORCEMENT TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBER TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS TAX OFFICES TAX RECEIPTS TAX REFUNDS TRADE CREDIT TRANSPORT TRANSPORTATION TRAVEL COSTS TRAVEL DISTANCES USES WEALTH WEB WORKING CAPITAL Microdata Set |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO INFORMATION BANK LOAN BANK POLICY BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS BUSINESS ENTRY BUSINESS REGISTRATION BUSINESSES CAPITAL STOCK CARS COMMERCE CREDIT MARKET CUSTOMER BASE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES DUMMY VARIABLE DUMMY VARIABLES ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT EMPLOYMENT ENTREPRENEUR ENTREPRENEURS EXCLUSION FINANCIAL SYSTEM FIRM PERFORMANCE FIRM SIZE FIRM SIZES FIRMS GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM GPS INFORMATION DATABASE INFORMATION PROVISION INSPECTION INSPECTIONS INSTRUMENT INTERNATIONAL BANK LICENSE LICENSES LIQUIDITY LIVING STANDARDS LOAN MANUFACTURING MARGINAL COEFFICIENT MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MICRO ENTERPRISES MICROENTERPRISES MULTINATIONALS NEIGHBORHOODS PASSENGERS PENSION PENSION FUND PRIVATE SECTOR PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVITY REGISTRATION PROCESS REGISTRY RESULT RESULTS RETURN ROAD SMALL ENTERPRISES SMALL FIRMS STORES SUPPLIER SUPPLIERS TAX TAX ENFORCEMENT TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBER TAX IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS TAX OFFICES TAX RECEIPTS TAX REFUNDS TRADE CREDIT TRANSPORT TRANSPORTATION TRAVEL COSTS TRAVEL DISTANCES USES WEALTH WEB WORKING CAPITAL Microdata Set McKenzie, David Sakho, Yaye Seynabou Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability |
| geographic_facet |
Latin America & Caribbean Bolivia |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 4449 |
| description |
This paper estimates the impact of
registering for taxes on firm profits in Bolivia, the
country with the highest levels of informality in Latin
America. A new survey of micro and small firms enables the
authors to control for a rich set of measures of owner
ability and business motivations that can affect both
profits and the decision to formalize. The paper identifies
the impact of tax registration on business profitability
using the distance of a firm from the tax office where
registration occurs, conditional on the distance to the city
center, as an instrument for registration. Proximity to the
tax office provides firms with more information about
registration, but is argued to not directly affect profits.
The findings show that tax registration leads to
significantly higher profits for the firms that the
instrument affects. However, there is also evidence of
heterogeneous effects of tax formality on profits. Tax
registration is found to increase profits for the mid-size
firms in the sample, but to lower profits for both the
smaller and larger firms, in contrast to the standard view
that formality increases profits. The analysis shows that
owners of large firms who have managed to stay informal have
higher entrepreneurial ability than formal firm owners, in
contrast to the standard view (correct among smaller firms)
that informal firm owners have low ability. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
McKenzie, David Sakho, Yaye Seynabou |
| author_facet |
McKenzie, David Sakho, Yaye Seynabou |
| author_sort |
McKenzie, David |
| title |
Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability |
| title_short |
Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability |
| title_full |
Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability |
| title_fullStr |
Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Does It Pay Firms to Register for Taxes? The Impact of Formality on Firm Profitability |
| title_sort |
does it pay firms to register for taxes? the impact of formality on firm profitability |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2012 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2007/12/8887984/pay-firms-register-taxes-impact-formality-firm-profitability http://hdl.handle.net/10986/7536 |
| _version_ |
1764402752643923968 |