---
_id: '49873'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: This study analyzes the impact of tax complexity on the location of tax employees
    and tax risk. Using a hand-collected dataset of more than 7,500 tax employees
    from 348 European-listed multinationals, we identify two types of firm-level costs
    associated with tax complexity—tax employees, and tax risk. We find that firms
    locate more tax employees in countries with greater tax complexity. This association
    is particularly pronounced for complexity in tax procedures. We also find that
    multinationals operating in countries with high tax complexity are associated
    with higher tax risk. The incremental tax risk vanishes for firms that locate
    more tax employees in countries with highly complex tax procedures, while we find
    no risk reduction from additional tax employees in countries with complex tax
    rules. Our results reveal that multinationals eliminate 25 percent of overall
    tax complexity-related tax risk through targeted location of tax employees.
author:
- first_name: Henning
  full_name: Giese, Henning
  id: '92812'
  last_name: Giese
- first_name: Reinald
  full_name: Koch, Reinald
  last_name: Koch
- first_name: Caren
  full_name: Sureth-Sloane, Caren
  id: '530'
  last_name: Sureth-Sloane
  orcid: ' 0000-0002-8183-5901'
citation:
  ama: 'Giese H, Koch R, Sureth-Sloane C. <i>Tax Complexity and Tax Risk: The Role
    of Tax Employees</i>.; 2024. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151">10.2139/ssrn.4888151</a>'
  apa: 'Giese, H., Koch, R., &#38; Sureth-Sloane, C. (2024). <i>Tax Complexity and
    Tax Risk: The Role of Tax Employees</i>. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151">https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151</a>'
  bibtex: '@book{Giese_Koch_Sureth-Sloane_2024, series={TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency
    Working Paper Series No. 149}, title={Tax Complexity and Tax Risk: The Role of
    Tax Employees}, DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151">10.2139/ssrn.4888151</a>},
    author={Giese, Henning and Koch, Reinald and Sureth-Sloane, Caren}, year={2024},
    collection={TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency Working Paper Series No. 149}
    }'
  chicago: 'Giese, Henning, Reinald Koch, and Caren Sureth-Sloane. <i>Tax Complexity
    and Tax Risk: The Role of Tax Employees</i>. TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency
    Working Paper Series No. 149, 2024. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151">https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151</a>.'
  ieee: 'H. Giese, R. Koch, and C. Sureth-Sloane, <i>Tax Complexity and Tax Risk:
    The Role of Tax Employees</i>. 2024.'
  mla: 'Giese, Henning, et al. <i>Tax Complexity and Tax Risk: The Role of Tax Employees</i>.
    2024, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4888151">10.2139/ssrn.4888151</a>.'
  short: 'H. Giese, R. Koch, C. Sureth-Sloane, Tax Complexity and Tax Risk: The Role
    of Tax Employees, 2024.'
date_created: 2023-12-19T13:22:08Z
date_updated: 2026-06-11T06:51:43Z
department:
- _id: '187'
doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4888151
keyword:
- tax complexity
- tax complexity cost
- tax department
- tax employees
- tax risk
language:
- iso: eng
main_file_link:
- open_access: '1'
  url: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4888151
oa: '1'
publication_status: published
series_title: TRR 266 Accounting for Transparency Working Paper Series No. 149
status: public
title: 'Tax Complexity and Tax Risk: The Role of Tax Employees'
type: working_paper
user_id: '96670'
year: '2024'
...