Die optimale Kapitalstruktur österreichischer Kapitalgesellschaften nach der Steuerreform 2000 unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Eigenkapitalzuwachsverzinsung

Summary

Following the methodology of Zechner/Swoboda (1986), Swoboda (1991) and Swoboda/Zechner (1995) the optimal capital structure was analysed for a corporation under uncertainty in the Austrian tax system after the tax reform 2000.

In spite of the innovative provisions as regards deductibility of equity (cumulation) interest charge, maximum debt finance is optimal. This is due on the one hand to the bankruptcy effect, on the other hand to the tradeoff effect. Irrelevance of capital structure would require a fictitious equity interest rate which was linked to the corporations default risk.

A multiperiod extension of the model aggravates the fiscal inequality of equity and debt, as for equity only interest on the cumulation of equity can be deducted from tax, whereas for debt the whole amount of debt is deductible (see Bogner/Frühwirth/Höger (1999)).