Exploratory Study on the Characteristics of Romanian Listed Companies with Connections to Tax Havens

This paper tackles a topic highly debated in recent years: tax optimization through offshore jurisdictions. Considering that tax rates differ from one country to another, companies are looking for the opportunity to shift their profit from the source country of income to offshore jurisdictions in order to avoid taxes. In this regard, companies from almost all around the world have connections to tax havens. The purpose of our exploratory study is to outline the profile of Romanian companies listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange with connections to offshore jurisdictions, from a tax optimisation point of view. To reach the research objectives, we analysed several indicators, regarding to the financial position and performance, computed for a period of six fiscal years (2011-2016). The results of the study underline that the connections of Romanian listed companies to tax havens influences their profitability and effective tax rate.