Investigating the Moderating Effect of Profitability on the Relationship between Corporate Governance and Tax Avoidance in Companies Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange

Tax avoidance is an activity in which the management uses its powers to reduce and manipulate profits in order to reduce the taxes to be paid, and adopting this type of policy is not necessarily for the benefit of all interested groups. The discussion of tax avoidance seems to be more relevant in the case of companies with separation of ownership, because real people are less involved in tax avoidance due to the possibility of being discovered and fined and risk aversion or internal motivations such as social duty. to be Therefore, the purpose of this research is to investigate the moderating effect of profitability on the relationship between corporate governance and tax avoidance. In line with the purpose of the research, using the systematic elimination method, a sample consisting of 103 companies was selected from among the companies admitted to the Tehran Stock Exchange between 2009 and 2020. To analyze the data and test the hypotheses, multivariate regression models were used using the combined data method. The results of the research showed that among the elements of the corporate governance system, only the ratio of ownership of institutional shareholders has a negative and significant relationship with tax avoidance, and the ratio of non-commissioned members of the board of directors and the dual duties of the CEO do not have a significant relationship with tax avoidance. Also, the results showed that the increase in the profitability of the companies has strengthened the relationship between the duties of the CEO and tax avoidance, but it has no effect on the relationship between non-obligatory members of the board of directors and tax avoidance, and the relationship between the ownership ratio of institutional shareholders and tax avoidance.