Moderating Role of Institutional Ownership on Financial Distress, Leverage, and Tax Avoidance

Aurelius Richaldo Jaya Dwi; Yana Ulfah

doi:10.24843/EJA.2026.v36.i07.p06

Authors

Aurelius Richaldo Jaya Dwi Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Mulawarman, Indonesia
Yana Ulfah Faculty of Economics and Business, Universitas Mulawarman, Indonesia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24843/EJA.2026.v36.i07.p06

Keywords:

Tax Avoidance, Financial Distress, Leverage, Institutional Ownership

Abstract

This research examines institutional ownership as a moderator in the relationship among financial distress, leverage and tax avoidance. Tax avoidance remains a persistent issue in Indonesia's mining sector, such as transfer pricing and profit-shifting practices used to reduce tax liabilities. Using financial statements of 23 mining companies on Indonesia Stock Exchange in 2020–2024 as secondary data. Multiple Linear Regression and Moderated Regression Analysis were applied to test the hypothesized relationships. Findings show that financial distress has no influence on tax avoidance, while leverage exerts a significant negative influence on it. Furthermore, institutional ownership weakens the influence of financial distress on tax avoidance but is unable to moderate the influence of leverage on tax avoidance.

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