ABSTRACT

This study seeks to examine the effect of corporate tax on financial performance of listed commercial banks in Nigeria. The study employed ex post facto research design by using secondary data from the listed commercial banks on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Market from 2014-2018. Data for analysis was gottenfrom the published financial reports of 10 listed commercial banks sampled for the period of 5 years. The Simple linear regression model using Ordinary Least Square (OLS) technique was used to analyze the data generated with the aid ofStatistic Package for the Social Science (SPSS Version 20). Findingsfrom the study revealed that, corporate tax have a positive relationship with the return on assets of listed commercial banks and have a statistical significant effect on the return on assets ofthe listed commercial banks in Nigeria. Furtherfindings shows that, corporate tax has a positive relationship with the return on equity of listed commercial banks and have a statistical significant effect on the return on equity of the listed commercial banks in Nigeria. Final results revealed that corporate tax has a positive relationship with the return on capital employed oflisted commercial banks but have no statistical significant effect on the return on capital employed of the listed commercial banks in Nigeria. Thus it is recommended that, government in Nigeria should continuously make available corporate tax policies that encourage investment in loans by the commercial banks as it is shown in this study that the various tax allowances or deduction on loanable funds which constitutes the assets of the banks as reported in theirfinancial statement significantly affects the return on assets on the commercial banks.