Características dos tributos diferidos nas companhias abertas brasileiras após a adoção das IFRS

Abstract

This research investigated the economic motivations that explain the level of recognition of deferred income taxes in the Brazilian companies during initial adoption of IFRS in Brazil and the mandatory term of the Transitional Tax Regime. Non-financial public companies were selected in the index IBrX 100, 68 companies were identified from 2010 to 2013 comprising 272 observations. The descriptive analysis of the data indicated that the amount of deferred tax liabilities was greater than the amount of deferred tax assets in all years studied, a situation that contracts with the pre-IFRS scenario where there were fewer deferred tax liabilities due to reduced options of temporary exclusions and that the deferred tax assets are mainly arising from temporary differences, however there was further growth of tax credits related to tax losses in the period combined with a greater increase in total tax assets than deferred tax liabilities. In the multivariate multiple regression analysis with panel data it was found that: (i) there is no significant relationship between the recognition of deferred taxes and the debts of the Company, that is, there is no evidence that companies use deferred taxes for the purpose of influencing the level of debt, despite the possibility of covenants be broken and, consequently, increase its credit risk, (ii) larger firms tend to register a lower value of net deferred tax assets to reduce their profits and disclose their overcharge in order to reduce public exposure, and (iii) the least profitable firms are likely to recognize a greater amount of net deferred tax assets for presumably mitigate the low result of the company and thus mask their poor performance and also, on the other hand, companies that have higher profitability tend to register lower values of net deferred tax assets to reduce profit, and thus, lower their political costs. Thus, the results suggest that companies use discretion provided by the accounting regulation of deferred taxes to achieve their goals and demands, to reduce public exposure and improve its profitability.