Fairly extensive literature on incentives and financial misreporting, there is relatively little work linking executives’ incentives with tax aggressiveness develops the idea that shareholders select the level of tax aggressiveness by linking tax manager compensation with effective tax rates or stock price. However, one serious limitation in this model is that shareholders cannot observe the compensation contract or know whether managers are engaging in legal tax planning or illegal tax evasion. Thus, inappropriate aggressive behavior by the tax director constitutes a ‘‘hidden action,’’ because tax returns are not disclosed to investors and shareholders do not know whether to alter the executive’s compensation contract until after the firm is penalized.