The dynamics of capital structure in the presence of zakat and corporate tax

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the impact of wealth tax (zakat) and corporate tax (CT) on the firm's capital structure. The pioneering works of capital structure were introduced by Modgliani and Miller (1958). Subsequently, these studies were extended by other authors such as Elton and Gruber (1970), Miller (1977), DeAngelo and Masulis (1980), Mackie-Mason (1990), Harris and Raviv (1991), Rajan and Zingales (1995) and Booth et al. (2001). The diversity of the study covers from the advantage of CT to the cost of debt financing. The empirical evidence has also been applied to different countries with a good data access and different legal and accounting environments. However, this study is still relevant especially on the advantages of wealth tax, and the utilization of Islamic debt and equity financing to the firm's capital structure. Design/methodology/approach – The study uses the sample of Malaysian firms that are listed in the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. The cross-sectional and time-series data covering 422 companies from 1996 to 2000 are compiled from the database published by the Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange. All the sample firms are listed as a syariah company that normally pays the wealth tax. These data, then, are used to examine the effects of several explanatory variables, i.e. wealth tax and CT, and several controlled variables on firm capital structure decisions. Findings – The results showed that, first, the significance of wealth tax is consistent with the argument that firms that pay high wealth tax should be financed with relatively more debt. Second, as the CT rate is raised, firms are subjected to lower CT rates which would lead them to utilize more debt in their capital structures. Third, a significant relationship exists between age, size, return on assets, volatility, industry classification, tangible assets and bankruptcy with the capital structure. Originality/value – This paper viewed the tax benefits and the zakat payments in isolation. However, the tax deductions and the zakat payments are both expected to influence the capital structure decisions. The paper will study this decision and reveal the determinants that influence the capital structure decisions in general and the specific choice of payments, i.e. tax and zakat payments.