Corporate taxation and location of intangible assets : patents vs. trademarks

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URL:	https://ub-madoc.bib.uni-mannheim.de/40705
URN:	urn:nbn:de:bsz:180-madoc-407057
Document Type:	Working paper
Year of publication:	2016
The title of a journal, publication series:	ZEW Discussion Papers
Volume:	16-015
Place of publication:	Mannheim
Publication language:	English
Institution:	Sonstige Einrichtungen > ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung Business School > ABWL insbes. Finance & Accounting (Voget)
MADOC publication series:	Veröffentlichungen des ZEW (Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung) > ZEW Discussion Papers
Subject:	330 Economics
Classification:	JEL: H25 , F23 , H26 , H3,
Keywords (English):	Intangible assets , patent , trademark , tax planning , corporate taxation
Abstract:	Numerous empirical studies have analysed the influence of corporate taxation on the location of intangible assets within a company group. However, the previous literature has rather focused on studying the impact of taxation on patent location choices assuming that these assets represent the rest of intangibles as well. This paper complements previous studies by estimating and comparing the tax elasticities of two different types of intangibles – patents and trademarks. We employ data on European and US patent and trademark applications in the period of 1996-2012 and estimate a multinomial logit model that incorporates various observed and unobserved factors of the intangible’s location choice. According to our main findings, trademarks are more sensitive to changes in taxation as compared to patents. This implies that firms use trademarks more eagerly for tax planning purposes than patents.