Firm Size and Tax Saving Behaviour of Listed Companies in Nigeria

Abstract

In this paper has been investigated tax savings behaviour of firms in Nigeria with the objective of finding out how it affects firm size. The ex-post facto research design was employed, and secondary data obtained from the annual reports of firms listed on the Nigeria Stock Exchange was used. Descriptive statistics and panel data regression tests were conducted. The data were further subjected to unit root test to establish the stationarity of the data. The result revealed that interest tax savings behaviour and depreciation savings behaviour have negative but significant relationship with firm size while effective tax rate has negative and insignificant relationship with firm size. The study concluded that the lower the firm size the higher the tax savings behaviour and vice versa of quoted companies in Nigeria. The paper recommended that tax regulatory authorities should focus their searchlight on tax aggressiveness of small sized companies as a strategy to reduce tax evasion while encouraging appropriate tax savings strategies to ensure tax compliance.