Abstract
This article analyzes the emerging trends in tax avoidance and evasion by multinational companies between 2010 and 2024, placing the issue within the broader context of increasing global concern about corporate tax behavior and its implications for public finances and economic equity. Using a bibliometric approach, the study examines a dataset of 396 publications extracted from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Descriptive analyses were conducted to explore the distribution of publications over time, leading journals, citation patterns and the most active authors, institutions and countries contributing to this field of research. In a second phase, keyword evolution, co-occurrence networks and thematic concentration were analyzed using the Biblioshiny package in R, allowing for the identification of dominant research streams and their evolution over time. The findings reveal a significant and continuous growth in scholarly interest, particularly after major international tax reforms and increased regulatory scrutiny. The results also show a strong geographical concentration of research in developed countries, alongside a growing trend toward international collaboration. Thematic analysis highlights recurrent concepts such as tax havens, debt shifting, capital structure, transfer pricing and location decisions. These findings enabled the classification of determinants into internal factors—such as corporate governance, managerial incentives and strategic orientation—and external factors, including regulatory frameworks, institutional pressures and tax competition. Overall, this study provides comprehensive insights for both corporate decision-makers seeking to optimize tax strategies and policymakers aiming to design more effective and equitable tax systems.
Keywords: Bibliometric Analysis, Multinational Corporations, Profit Shifting, Tax Avoidance, Tax Evasion, Tax Havens.