This paper investigates the magnitude, trends, and source of book―tax differences in Japan. We find that the differences are negative(i.e. taxable income greater than accounting earnings) from 1991 to 2003, and that the magnitude of differences seems not to be changed largely, except for 1999 and 2000. In addition, using fixed―effects model with unbalanced panel data, we find that the differences can be explained by some institutional and economic factors such as change in net sales, change in various allowances, dividend received, and lagged differences. The lagged differences are negatively related to differences. This evidence is inconsistent with Manzon and Plesko(2002).
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