Sales Growth as a Moderator Between Leverage and Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Indonesian Real Estate Companies

The level of tax payment compliance in Indonesia is low, which is one indication of tax avoidance practices. The purpose of the study was to test and analyze the effect of Leverage, Liquidity and Profitability on Tax Avoidance in Real Estate Property Companies and Sales Growth as a moderating variable. Researchers use agency theory and Resource Based Theory. The population in this study consists of 91 property and real estate sector companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during the period between 2020 and 2022. A total of 15 companies were selected as the sample using a purposive sampling technique, resulting in 45 observations over the three-year period. The novelty in this study is to add sales growth as a moderating variable on tax avoidance and tests the data using regression analysis with the PLS approach. Sales growth refers to the percentage increase in sales revenue over a specified period, indicating the company’s ability to expand its market share and generate higher income. This will prompt management to engage in tax planning initiatives aimed at mitigating the tax liability. The analysis demonstrated that Leverage, Liquidity and Profitability did not affect tax avoidance in real estate property companies. Sales growth is found to moderate the relationship between leverage and tax avoidance. However