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Compliance costs caused by agency action? Empirical evidence and implications for tax compliance

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  • Eichfelder, Sebastian
  • Kegels, Chantal

Abstract

Compliance costs of taxpayers should not only be affected by the tax law itself but also by its implementation through the tax authorities. In this paper we analyze the effect of authority behavior on the burden of complying with tax regulations. Using survey data of Belgian businesses, we develop an estimation strategy to overcome simultaneity bias by the construction of proxy variables. According to our estimate, a customer-unfriendly tax administration increases the average compliance burden by about 27%. Our outcome has interesting implications for further research. First of all, authority behavior does not only affect “soft” tax compliance factors like fairness and trust, but also “hard” aspects like costs. Second, the distribution of administrative cost burdens between the taxpayer side and the authorities may be important regarding the cost-efficiency of the tax system as a whole.

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  • Eichfelder, Sebastian & Kegels, Chantal, 2014. "Compliance costs caused by agency action? Empirical evidence and implications for tax compliance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 200-219.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:40:y:2014:i:c:p:200-219
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2012.08.012
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    Cited by:

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    2. Janina Enachescu & Maximilian Zieser & Eva Hofmann & Erich Kirchler, 2019. "Horizontal Monitoring in Austria: subjective representations by tax officials and company employees," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 12(1), pages 75-94, April.
    3. Jonathan Farrar & Dawn W. Massey & Errol Osecki & Linda Thorne, 2020. "Tax Fairness: Conceptual Foundations and Empirical Measurement," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 162(3), pages 487-503, March.
    4. Katharina Gangl & Erich Kirchler & Christian Lorenz & Benno Torgler, 2015. "Wealthy Tax Non-Filers in a Developing Nation: The Roles of Taxpayer Knowledge, Perceived Corruption and Service Orientation in Pakistan," CREMA Working Paper Series 2015-08, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    5. Sebastian Eichfelder & François Vaillancourt, 2014. "Tax Compliance Costs: A Review of Cost Burdens and Cost Structures," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 210(3), pages 111-148, September.
    6. Eichfelder, Sebastian & Hechtner, Frank, 2016. "Tax compliance costs: Cost burden and cost reliability," arqus Discussion Papers in Quantitative Tax Research 212, arqus - Arbeitskreis Quantitative Steuerlehre.
    7. Dewi Prastiwi & Erlina Diamastuti, 2023. "Building Trust and Enhancing Tax Compliance: The Role of Authoritarian Procedures and Respectful Treatment in Indonesia," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-15, August.
    8. Frecknall-Hughes, Jane & Gangl, Katharina & Hofmann, Eva & Hartl, Barbara & Kirchler, Erich, 2023. "The influence of tax authorities on the employment of tax practitioners: Empirical evidence from a survey and interview study," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax compliance costs; Red tape; Tax administration; Tax compliance; Tax evasion; Tax authority behavior; Proxy variables; Simultaneity bias;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration

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