Abstract

<p>This study aims to investigate the effect of firm attributes on aggressive tax planning among listed manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The specific objectives include assessing the extent to which firm liquidity, firm leverage, firm profitability, firm size, firm age, and firm operating efficiency affect the effective tax rates of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria. Correlation design was deployed in the study based on a population of forty-four listed manufacturing firms. Purposive sampling was used to select firm-year observations of 240. Secondary were extracted from the annual reports of the sampled firms from 2013 to 2022. The test of hypotheses was done using Robust Least Square regression. The findings revealed the following: Firm liquidity has a non-significant and negative effect on effective tax rate of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.1028); Firm leverage has a significant and negative effect on effective tax rate of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.0000); Firm profitability has a significant and positive effect on effective tax rate of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.0029); Firm size has a significant and negative effect on effective tax rate of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.0147); Firm age has a non-significant and positive effect on effective tax rate of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.5425); Firm operating efficiency has a significant and negative effect on effective tax rate of listed manufacturing firms in Nigeria (p-value = 0.0001). The study recommends that managers should implement a comprehensive liquidity management strategy that considers not only short-term financial needs but also incorporates tax planning objectives. This may involve analyzing the timing of income recognition and expenses to optimize tax positions while maintaining a prudent level of liquidity.</p>