Demographic characteristics of the board of directors’ structure and tax avoidance: Evidence from Tehran Stock Exchange

PurposeThe structure of corporate governance, as one of the important elements to be considered based on the different characteristics than other companies, such as women, expertise, tenure and management is different. But two measures for the presence of women in the board of directors and the size of director’s board are considered as corporate content characteristics that can affect corporate tax strategies in avoiding tax or taxes timely pay off. The purpose of this paper is to understand the demographic characteristics of the board of directors structure on the board and tax avoidance in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).Design/methodology/approachSample includes the 505 firm-year observations from companies listed on the TSE during the years 2012–2016 and research hypothesis was tested using multivariate regression model based on panel data.FindingsThe results indicate that female presence on the board of directors reduces the corporate tax avoidance. Additionally, firms with a larger size of board of directors are associated with more tax avoidance.Originality/valueThe current study is almost the first study which has been conducted in Iran, so the findings of the study not only extend the extant theoretical literature concerning the tax avoidance in developing countries including emerging capital market of Iran, but also help investors, capital market regulators and accounting standard setters to make informed decisions.