The Impact of Family Ownership on Tax Avoidance in Jordan: The Moderating Effect of Audit Quality

This study examines the impact of family ownership on tax avoidance, with a particular focus on the moderating role of audit quality within the context of manufacturing and services firms listed on the Amman Stock Exchange during the period 2012–2021. Results indicate that family ownership has no statistically significant impact on tax avoidance when using either cash flow effective tax rate, effective tax rate, or book-tax difference as measures of tax avoidance. Furthermore, the analysis shows that audit quality does not moderate the impact of family ownership on tax avoidance when employing either the effective tax rate or the cash flow effective tax rate as proxy of tax avoidance. Conversely, when the book-tax difference is utilized as a measure of tax avoidance, audit quality significantly moderates the impact of family ownership on tax avoidance, functioning inversely. These findings add to the continuing discussion on tax avoidance in family-ownership companies, suggesting that, on the other way around, in the context of Jordanian firms, family ownership and audit quality may not play an essential role in tax avoidance strategies.