Tax Expense Momentum

Journal of Accounting Research, Forthcoming

46 Pages Posted: 13 Dec 2010

See all articles by Jacob K. Thomas

Jacob K. Thomas

Yale School of Management

Frank Zhang

Yale School of Management

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: December 12, 2010

Abstract

We investigate the joint hypothesis that a) tax expense contains information about core profitability that is incremental to reported earnings and b) that information is reflected in stock prices with a delay. We find that seasonally-differenced quarterly tax expense, our proxy for tax expense surprise, is related positively to future returns. This anomaly is separate from previously documented pricing anomalies based on financial and tax variables. Additional investigation reveals that tax expense surprise is related positively to changes in future quarterly earnings and tax expense, and both those future changes are related positively to future returns. While the returns to investing in predictable future earnings changes has been documented before, these results suggest that predicting changes in future tax expense also generates incremental future returns.

Keywords: tax expense, momentum, stock returns

JEL Classification: D81, G11, G12, G14, H21, H25, M40, M41

Suggested Citation

Thomas, Jacob and Zhang, Frank, Tax Expense Momentum (December 12, 2010). Journal of Accounting Research, Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1724304

Jacob Thomas

Yale School of Management ( email )

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States

Frank Zhang (Contact Author)

Yale School of Management ( email )

135 Prospect Street
P.O. Box 208200
New Haven, CT 06520-8200
United States

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