Female Board Membership and Sustainability: Can they Mitigate Tax Avoidance in Indonesia and Malaysia?

The objective of this study is to determine the effect of board gender diversity on tax avoidance through sustainability performance in non-financial companies in Indonesia and Malaysia for the 2014-2018 period. Currently, taxes are one of the largest sources of revenue for Indonesia and Malaysia. Due to the quite large role of taxes, the government seeks to increase revenue from the tax sector. However, there are obstacles in optimizing tax revenue, one of which is tax avoidance activities carried out by individual and corporate taxpayers. Taxpayers can reduce tax avoidance by increasing gender diversity and carrying out sustainability performance activities. This encourages researchers to verify the relationship between board gender diversity on tax avoidance through sustainability performance. This study uses WarpPLS 6.0 software and regression analysis methods to determine the relationship between variables. The result of the study has shown the positive effect on board gender diversity on tax avoidance through mediation of sustainability performance.