Share:


Tax compliance determinants: empirical evidence from Croatia

    Hana Paleka   Affiliation
    ; Goran Karanović   Affiliation
    ; Daniel Badulescu   Affiliation

Abstract

Governments ensure majority of their revenues through taxes. If properly designed, taxation policies can be mechanisms of promoting sustainable economic development and inclusive economic growth. However, the main issue of government authorities remains achieving tax compliance among taxpayers. The question of noncompliance intersects different fields from public finance, law, ethics, and its complexity presents a challenge for the society in general.


This study aims to examine the influence of chosen economic and psychological determinants on tax compliance. In order to identify the determinants of taxpayers’ behaviour, a total of 862 questionnaires were administered and collected directly from Croatian taxpayers. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was applied to analyse the survey data. The results suggest that social norms and tax morale influence taxpayers’ compliance significantly.


Overall, findings of this study contribute to the better understanding of tax compliance and its determinants in the context of a genuine paradigm shift in the field. This emphasizes the importance of including and exploring psychological determinants in tax compliance analysis.

Keyword : tax compliance, taxation policies, taxpayers’ behaviour, economic determinants, psychological determinants, PLS-SEM

How to Cite
Paleka, H., Karanović, G., & Badulescu, D. (2022). Tax compliance determinants: empirical evidence from Croatia. Technological and Economic Development of Economy, 28(6), 1915–1932. https://doi.org/10.3846/tede.2022.18130
Published in Issue
Dec 1, 2022
Abstract Views
1111
PDF Downloads
1216
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Allingham, M. G., & Sandmo, A. (1972). Income tax evasion: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Public Economics, 1(3–4), 323–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2727(72)90010-2

Alm, J. (2019). What motivates tax compliance? Journal of Economic Surveys, 33(2), 353–388. https://doi.org/10.1111/joes.12272

Alm, J., & McKee, M. (2006). Audit certainty, audit productivity, and taxpayer compliance. National Tax Journal, 59(4), 801–816. https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2006.4.03

Alm, J., Enami, A., & McKee, M. (2020). Who responds? Disentangling the effects of audits on individual tax compliance behavior. Atlantic Economic Journal, 48, 147–159. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11293-020-09672-4

Alm, J., Kirchler, E., & Muehlbacher, S. (2012). Combining psychology and economics in the analysis of compliance: From enforcement to cooperation. Economic Analysis and Policy, 42(2), 133–151. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0313-5926(12)50016-0

Alm, J., McClelland, G., & Schulze, W. (1999). Changing the social norm of tax compliance by voting. Kyklos, 52(2), 141–171. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6435.1999.tb01440.x

Andreoni, J., Erard, B., & Feinstein, J. (1998). Tax compliance. Journal of Economic Literature, 36(2), 818–860.

ATKearney. (2013). The shadow economy in Europe. https://feelingeurope.eu/Pages/Shadow_Economy_in_Europe.pdf

Bhattacherjee, A. (2012). Social science research: Principles, methods, and practices. Open University Press, USF Tampa Bay.

Blanthorne, C., & Kaplan, S. (2008). An egocentric model of the relations among the opportunity to underreport, social norms, ethical beliefs, and underreporting behavior. Accounting, Organizations and Society, 33(7–8), 684–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aos.2008.02.001

Bobek, D., Roberts, R. W., & Sweeney, J. T. (2007). The social norms of tax compliance: Evidence from Australia, Singapore and the United States. Journal of Business Ethics, 74(1), 49–64. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-006-9219-x

Bott, K., Cappelen, A. W., Sorensen, E. O., & Tungodden, B. (2014). You’ve got mail: A randomized field experiment on tax evasion the classical approach to understanding tax evasion (Working Paper). Department of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics.

Braithwaite, V. (2017). Taxing democracy: Understanding tax avoidance and evasion. Taylor and Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315241746

Chin, W. W. (1998). The partial least squares approach for structural equation modeling. In G. A. Marcoulides (Ed.), Modern methods for business research (pp. 295–336). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.

Christian, R. C., & Alm, J. (2014). Sympathy, empathy, and tax compliance. Journal of Economic Psychology, 40, 62–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2012.10.001

Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.

Cowell, F. A. (1981). Taxation and labour supply with risky activities. Economica, 48(192), 365–379. https://doi.org/10.2307/2553694

Cranor, T., Goldin, J., Homonoff, T., & Moore, L. (2020). Communicating tax penalties to delinquent taxpayers: Evidence from a field experiment. National Tax Journal, 73(2), 331–360. https://doi.org/10.17310/ntj.2020.2.02

Crnogorac, M., & Lago-Peñas, S. (2020). Determinants of tax morale in former Yugoslavian countries. Eastern European Economics, 58(2), 174–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/00128775.2019.1671868

Cvrlje, D. (2015). Tax literacy as an instrument of combating and overcoming tax system complexity, low tax morale and tax non-compliance. The Macrotheme Review, 4(3), 156–167.

Davis, J., Hecht, G., & Perkins, J. (2003). Social behaviors, enforcement, and tax compliance dynamics. The Accounting Review, 78(1), 39–69. https://doi.org/10.2308/accr.2003.78.1.39

Djajanti, A. (2020). Developing the voluntary taxpayer compliance: The scale of the tax authority’s power, trust and the fairness of the tax system. Indonesian Journal of Business and Entrepreneurship, 6(1), 86. https://doi.org/10.17358/ijbe.6.1.86

Doerrenberg, P., & Schmitz, J. (2017). Tax compliance and information returns – a field experiment with small firms. Journal of Behavioral Economics for Policy, 1(1), 47–54.

Dwenger, N., Kleven, H., Rasul, I., & Rincke, J. (2016). Extrinsic and intrinsic motivations for tax compliance: Evidence from a field experiment in Germany. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, 8(3), 203–232. https://doi.org/10.1257/pol.20150083

e Hassan, I., Naeem, A., & Gulzar, S. (2021). Voluntary tax compliance behavior of individual taxpayers in Pakistan. Financial Innovation, 7, 21. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40854-021-00234-4

Enachescu, J., Olsen, J., Kogler, C., Zeelenberg, M., Breugelmans, S. M., & Kirchler, E. (2019). The role of emotions in tax compliance behavior: A mixed-methods approach. Journal of Economic Psychology, 74, 102194. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2019.102194

Eurostat. (2022). Tax revenue statistics. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Tax_revenue_statistics

Farrar, J., Massey, D. W., Osecki, E., & Thorne, L. (2018). Tax fairness: Conceptual foundations and empirical measurement. Journal of Business Ethics, 162(3), 487–503. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-4001-4

Fornell, C., & Larcker, D. F. (1981). Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. Journal of Marketing Research, 18(1), 39–50. https://doi.org/10.1177/002224378101800104

Franić, J. (2020). Repression, voluntary compliance and undeclared work in a transition setting: Some evidence from Poland. Post-Communist Economies, 32(2), 250–266. https://doi.org/10.1080/14631377.2019.1640984

Frey, B. (1997). Not just for the money – An economic theory of personal motivation. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.

Gold, A. H., Malhotra, A., & Segars, A. H. (2001). Knowledge management: An organizational capabilities perspective. Journal of Management Information Systems, 18(1), 185–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/07421222.2001.11045669

Górecki, M. A., & Letki, N. (2020). Social norms moderate the effect of tax system on tax evasion: Evidence from a large-scale survey experiment. Journal of Business Ethics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-020-04502-8

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C., & Sarstedt, M. (2014a). A primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Sage Publications.

Hair, J. F., Hult, G. T. M., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2022). A primer on Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.

Hair, J. F., Sarstedt, M., Hopkins, L., & Kuppelwieser, V. G. (2014b). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): An emerging tool in business research. European Business Review, 26(2), 106–121. https://doi.org/10.1108/EBR-10-2013-0128

Hallsworth, M., List, J. A., Metcalfe, R. D., & Vlaev, I. (2017). The behavioralist as tax collector: Using natural field experiments to enhance tax compliance. Journal of Public Economics, 148, 14–31.

Hanno, D., & Violette, G. (1996). An analysis of moral and social influences on tax behaviour. Behaviour Research in Accounting, 8, 57–75.

Hartner, M., Rechberger, S., Kirchler, E., & Schabmann, A. (2008). Procedural fairness and tax compliance. Economic Analysis and Policy, 38(1), 137–152. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0313-5926(08)50010-5

Hashimzade, N., Myles, G. D., & Tran-Nam, B. (2013). Applications of behavioural economics to tax evasion. Journal of Economic Surveys, 27(5), 941–977. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6419.2012.00733.x

Hauptman, L., Gürarda, Ş., & Korez-Vide, R. (2015). Exploring voluntary tax compliance factors in Slovenia: Implications for tax administration and policymakers. Lex Localis, 13(3), 639–659. https://doi.org/10.4335/13.3.639-659(2015)

Helhel, Y., & Ahmed, Y. (2014). Factors affecting tax attitudes and tax compliance: A survey study in Yemen. European Journal of Business and Management, 6(22), 48–58.

Henseler, J., Ringle, C. M., & Sarstedt, M. (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 43(1), 115–135. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-014-0403-8

Inasius, F. (2019). Factors influencing SME tax compliance: Evidence from Indonesia. International Journal of Public Administration, 42(5), 367–379. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2018.1464578

Jackson, B. R., & Milliron, C. V. (1986). Tax compliance research: Findings, problems and prospects. Journal of Accounting Literature, 5, 125–165.

James, S., & Alley, C. (1999). Tax compliance, self-assessment and administration in New Zealand – Is the carrot or the stick more appropriate to encourage compliance? New Zealand Journal of Taxation Law and Policy, 5(1), 3–14.

James, S., & Alley, C. (2002). Tax compliance, self-assessment and tax administration. Journal of Finance and Management in Public Services, 2(2), 27–42.

Kirchler, E. (2007). The economic psychology of tax behaviour. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511628238

Kirchler, E., Niemirowski, A., & Wearing, A. (2006). Shared subjective views, intent to cooperate and tax compliance: Similarities between Australian taxpayers and tax officers. Journal of Economic Psychology, 27(4), 502–517. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2006.01.005

Kleven, H. J., Knudsen, M. B., Kreiner, C. T., Pedersen, S., & Saez, M. (2011). Unwilling or unable to cheat? Evidence from a tax audit experiment in Denmark. Econometrica, 79(3), 651–692. https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA9113

Marandu, E. E., Mbekomize, C., & Ifezue, A. (2015). Determinants of tax compliance: A review of factors and conceptualizations. International Journal of Economics and Finance, 7(9), 207–218. https://doi.org/10.5539/ijef.v7n9p207

Matthews, R. (2005). The myth of punitiveness. Theoretical Criminology, 9(2), 153–174. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362480605051639

Mitrakos, P., Bitzenis, A., Kontakos, P., & Makedos, I. (2014). Tax morale and compliance in Greece: A review of empirical evidence. Global Business & Economics Anthology, 2, 197–204.

Murphy, R. (2019). The European tax gap. A report for the Socialists and Democrats Group in the European Parliament. http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Documents/EUTaxGapJan19.pdf

Nguyen, T. T. D., Pham, T. M. L., Le, T. T., Truong, T. H. L., & Tran, M. D. (2020). Determinants influencing tax compliance: The case of Vietnam. The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business, 7(2), 65–73. https://doi.org/10.13106/jafeb.2020.vol7.no2.65

Nunnally, J. C., & Bernstein, I. H. (1994). Psychometic theory (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Onu, D., Oats, L., & Kirchler, E. (2019). The dynamics of internalised and extrinsic motivation in the ethical decision-making of small business owners. Applied Psychology, 68(1), 177–201. https://doi.org/10.1111/apps.12151

Pencavel, J. H. (1979). A note on income tax evasion, labor supply, and nonlinear tax schedules. Journal of Public Economics, 12(1), 115–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2727(79)90059-8

Peša, A., Brlečić Valčić, S., & Maté, M. (2021). Overview of nudging on EU on the light of Croatian entry to Eurozone. In K. Soliman (Ed.), Innovation management and sustainable economic development in the era of global pandemic (pp. 5521–5527). International Business Information Management Association, Norristown.

Raczkowski, K. (2015). Measuring the tax gap in the European economy. Journal of Economics and Management, 21(3), 58–72.

Riahi-Belkaoui, A. (2004). Relationship between tax compliance internationally and selected determinants of tax morale. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 13(2), 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2004.09.001

Richardson, G. (2006). Determinants of tax evasion: A cross-country investigation. Journal of International Accounting, Auditing and Taxation, 15(2), 150–169. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intaccaudtax.2006.08.005

Ringle, C. M., Wende, S., & Becker, J. M. (2015). SmartPLS. SmartPLS GmbH, Boenningstedt.

Rinken, S., Domínguez-Álvarez, J.-A., Trujillo, M., Lafuente, R., Sotomayor, R., & Serrano-del-Rosal, R. (2020). Combined mobile-phone and social-media sampling for web survey on social effects of COVID-19 in Spain. Survey Research Methods, 14(2), 165–170. https://doi.org/10.18148/srm/2020.v14i2.7733

Roth, J. A., Scholtz, J. T., & Witte, A. D. (1989). Taxpayer compliance: An agenda for research (vol. 1). University of Pennsylvania Press. https://doi.org/10.9783/9781512806274

Saad, N. (2012). Tax non-compliance behaviour: Taxpayers view. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 65, 344–351. https://doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.11.132

Saad, N. (2014). Tax knowledge, tax complexity and tax compliance: Taxpayers’ view. Procedia – Social and Behavioral Sciences, 109, 1069–1075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.12.590

Slemrod, J. B. (2016). Tax compliance and enforcement: New research and its policy implications (Ross School of Business Paper No. 1302). https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2726077

Srinivasan, T. N. (1973). Tax evasion: A model. Journal of Public Economics, 2(4), 339–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2727(73)90024-8

Swistak, A. (2016). Tax penalties in SME tax compliance. Financial Theory and Practice, 40(1), 129–147. https://doi.org/10.3326/fintp.40.1.4

Tenidou, E., Valsamidis, S., Petasakis, I., & Mandilas, A. (2015). Elenxis, an effective tool for the war against tax avoidance and evasion. Procedia Economics and Finance, 33, 303–312. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2212-5671(15)01714-1

Torgler, B. (2011). Tax morale and compliance: Review of evidence and case studies for Europe (World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 5922). https://ssrn.com/abstract=1977173

Torgler, B., & Schneider, F. (2005). Attitudes towards paying taxes in Austria: An empirical analysis. Empirica, 32, 231–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10663-004-8328-y

Torgler, B., & Schneider, F. (2009). The impact of tax morale and institutional quality on the shadow economy. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30(2), 228–245. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2008.08.004

Tørsløv, T., Wier, L., & Zucman, G. (2020). The missing profits of nations (Working Paper). HAL.

van Dijke, M., Gobena, L. B., & Verboon, P. (2019). Make me want to pay. A three-way interaction between procedural justice, distributive justice, and power on voluntary tax compliance. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 1632. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01632

Walsh, K. (2012). Understanding taxpayer behaviour – New opportunities for tax administration. The Economic and Social Review, 43(3), 451–475.

Wenzel, M. (2004). The social side of sanctions: Personal and social norms as moderators of deterrence. Law and Human Behavior, 28(5), 547–567. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:LAHU.0000046433.57588.71

Wenzel, M. (2005). Misperceptions of social norms about tax compliance: From theory to intervention. Journal of Economic Psychology, 26(6), 862–883. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joep.2005.02.002

Williams, C. C., & Puts, E. (2017). 2017 platform survey report: Organisational characteristics of enforcement bodies, measures adopted to tackle undeclared work, and the use of databases and digital tools. European Commission, Brussels. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3084107

Ya’u, A., Saad, N., & Mas’ud, A. (2020). Effects of economic deterrence variables and royalty rates on petroleum profit tax compliance in Nigeria: An empirical analysis. International Journal of Energy Sector Management, 14(6), 1275–1296. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJESM-12-2019-0011

Yaniv, G. (1999). Tax compliance and advance tax payments: A prospect theory analysis. National Tax Journal, 52(4), 753–764. https://doi.org/10.1086/NTJ41789428

Yitzhaki, S. (1974). Income tax evasion: A theoretical analysis. Journal of Public Economics, 3(2), 201–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/0047-2727(74)90037-1