The Trend of Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Manufacturing Companies in Indonesia

Unexpected events, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can occur at any time and have an influence on all countries. The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 200 nations, including Indonesia. As a result of this phenomenon, Indonesia's state revenue system will need to be adjusted. Therefore, the goal of this research is to see if there are any differences in taxation in Indonesia as a result of the COVID-19 incident. The data was collected using the base years of 2018, 2019, and 2020. The information came from the financial statements of companies in the industrial sector that are publicly traded on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX). Purposive sampling was used, and there were 54 companies represented in the samples that met the criterion. In this study, the difference test was used as an analytical technique. According to the findings, there was no difference in the pattern of tax avoidance between pre-COVID-19 in 2019 and during the COVID-19 period in terms of leverage and fixed asset intensity. It occurred because the tax avoidance policy was implemented as a short-term fiscal strategy to ensure the company's existence. Finally, because these findings were restricted to the Indonesian environment, their generalizability was limited.