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The role of information in tax compliance: Evidence from a natural field experiment

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  • Kosonen, Tuomas
  • Ropponen, Olli

Abstract

It is challenging to distinguish the role of information in tax compliance from other factors affecting it. This paper utilizes a novel natural field experiment design to study the issue. In the experiment firms reporting their VAT were sent a letter asking them questions about their attitude towards the tax authority. The introductions to the questions provided candid information about VAT rules for a randomized treatment group, while a randomized control group was only asked questions without additional information. We observe the effects of the treatments directly from firm-level tax records. Providing information did reduce the noncompliance in tax reporting, which indicates that there were unintentional errors. The experimental design also allows us to study whether the difficulty and novelty of the tax code plays any role in tax compliance. The results indicate that tax reporting changes when new and easy information is provided.

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  • Kosonen, Tuomas & Ropponen, Olli, 2013. "The role of information in tax compliance: Evidence from a natural field experiment," Working Papers 48, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:fer:wpaper:48
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    Cited by:

    1. Christoph Engel, 2016. "Experimental Criminal Law. A Survey of Contributions from Law, Economics and Criminology," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2016_07, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    2. Bellon, Matthieu & Dabla-Norris, Era & Khalid, Salma & Lima, Frederico, 2022. "Digitalization to improve tax compliance: Evidence from VAT e-Invoicing in Peru," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 210(C).
    3. Dina Pomeranz & José Vila-Belda, 2019. "Taking State-Capacity Research to the Field: Insights from Collaborations with Tax Authorities," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 755-781, August.
    4. Kodjo Adandohoin & Jean-Francois Brun, 2021. "The Role of Income and Property Taxes in Tax Transition and the Mediating Effect of Financial Development," Post-Print hal-03470540, HAL.
    5. Berkel, Hanna & Estmann, Christian & Rand, John, 2022. "Local governance quality and law compliance: The case of Mozambican firms," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    6. Marius Surugiu & Raluca Mazilescu & Camelia Surugiu, 2020. "Tax compliance: cointegration analysis in romanian context," Manager Journal, Faculty of Business and Administration, University of Bucharest, vol. 32(1), pages 116-122, December.
    7. Kosonen, Tuomas & Ropponen, Olli, 2015. "The role of information in tax compliance: Evidence from a natural field experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 18-21.
    8. Philipp Doerrenberg & Jan Schmitz, 2017. "Tax compliance and information provision. A field experiment with small firms," Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE), vol. 1(1), pages 47-54, February.
    9. Youngrok Kim & Hongyu Wan & Minjo Kang, 2022. "Card or cash? Evidence regarding consumers' cooperative value‐added tax compliance," Asian Economic Journal, East Asian Economic Association, vol. 36(3), pages 337-359, September.
    10. Oronde Small & Leanora Brown, 2020. "Taxpayer Service Provision and Tax Compliance: Evidence for Large Taxpayers in Jamaica," Public Finance Review, , vol. 48(2), pages 250-277, March.
    11. Kodjo Adandohoin & Jean-Francois Brun, 2020. "Are incomes and property taxes effective instruments for tax transition?," CERDI Working papers hal-03053683, HAL.
    12. Kodjo Adandohoin & Jean-Francois Brun, 2020. "Are incomes and property taxes effective instruments for tax transition?," Working Papers hal-03053683, HAL.
    13. Michael Chirico & Robert Inman & Charles Loeffler & John MacDonald & Holger Sieg, 2016. "Deterring Delinquency: A Field Experiment in Improving Tax Compliance Behavior," Natural Field Experiments 00543, The Field Experiments Website.
    14. Kay Blaufus & Jakob Reineke & Ilko Trenn, 2023. "Perceived tax audit aggressiveness, tax control frameworks and tax planning: an empirical analysis," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 93(3), pages 509-557, April.
    15. Miguel Almunia & Jarkko Harju & Kaisa Kotakorpi & Janne Tukiainen & Jouko Verho, 2019. "Expanding access to administrative data: the case of tax authorities in Finland and the UK," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(3), pages 661-676, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Tax compliance; Information; Field experiment; Taxation; Verotus; Taxation and Social Transfers; Julkisen talouden rahoitus ja tulonsiirrot; C930 - Field Experiments; H250 - Business Taxes and Subsidies including sales and value-added (VAT); H260 - Tax Evasion (Compliance; Collection);
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • H25 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Business Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance

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