The impact of labor investment inefficiency on tax avoidance

Labor efficiency investment means employing the optimal number of manpower in the organization. In contrast, labor investment inefficiency, which represents an important item in the input of corporate production costs, is a consequence of weak investment, financing, and corporate operations, and can reflect higher agency costs, inadequate oversight, and poor transparency and information exchange. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between labor investment inefficiency and tax avoidance in companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. To test the research hypotheses, multiple linear regression model based on panel data has been used. The results of study of 140 companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange (980 observations year-firm) during the period 2012 to 2018 indicate that the labor investment inefficiency has a significant negative effect on tax avoidance. In fact, tax avoidance has been lower in companies with higher labor inefficiency. These results indicate the importance of companies paying more attention to the efficiency of labor investment in line with the company ’s tax avoidance activities.