Purpose: This study aims to examine the effect of tax avoidance, deferred tax burden and political connections on earnings management.

Research methodology: Purposive sampling was used as the sampling technique in this study. The data was tested using multiple-linear regression.

Results: The results show that tax avoidance, deferred tax expense, and company’s political relation have no effect on earnings management practice.

Limitations: A limitation of this study is the use of very little data due to the large number of sampling criteria.

Contribution: This study can be a reference for companies to make better earnings management.

Keywords: Tax avoidance, Deferred tax expense, Political relation, Company size, Leverage, Return on assets, Earnings management