Analytical Models to Characterize Trade-Offs between Technological Upgrading and Innovation

We propose two analytical models to characterize the relationship between technological upgrading and innovation in the oil & gas industry. The first one is an “optimization model” which focuses on the trade-offs between profit maximization and environmental compliance cost. The other has been developed based on “predator-prey” model which captures the dynamics of biological systems. Our study contributes to the strategic planning process for sustainable development by providing the insight that optimal allocation process is determined by multiple operational factors, including a firm’s competitive ranking among its industrial competitors, industrial consent on the concurrent rate of return on capital investment, the projected demand of oil & gas in future, and a change in environmental compliance cost. Further, we add to the robustness of the optimal allocation process by providing binding conditions of the set of solutions.

Automation of VAT System

The automated tax system has been taken as an effective tool for modernizing the tax system. The automated tax system can easily store all types of reported income, and it makes the tax submission procedure easy and convenient, resulting in reducing the compliance cost. The main objective of this chapter is to explain the necessity of an automated value added tax (VAT) system for raising domestic resource mobilization and how automation can be a better alternative to finance sustainable development goals projects. The secondary data was collected from the National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh. This study explains that the entire VAT system's automation can reduce the taxpayers' incentive to evade tax by reducing the tax compliance and taking bribes of tax officials. In sum, automation of the tax system would ultimately be pragmatic tax reform for the financing in the SDG projects.

Tax Compliance for Sustainable Development by Private Health Practitioners in Malaysia

Tax non-compliance leads to tax evasion and low tax collection, which ultimately may hamper the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Prior studies suggest that tax compliance is influenced by taxpayers’ attitude, quality of public governance and cost of tax compliance. However, studies that focus on tax compliance among health practitioners are still sparse. Given that potential tax evasion among private health practitioners may lead to a significant loss in government revenue, this study aimed to examine the factors influencing tax compliance among private health practitioners. Data was gathered through a survey involving 271 health practitioners in Malaysia. The findings indicated that only the quality of public governance had a significant relationship with tax compliance while attitude of taxpayers and cost of tax compliance did not significantly influence tax compliance among private health practitioners. This study contributes to the body of knowledge by providing current evidence of tax compliance among health practitioners. By highlighting the importance of educating health practitioners on tax compliance, the study also provides guidance to regulators in planning for more effective tax education and awareness programs. Keywords: tax compliance, attitude of taxpayer, quality of public governance, tax compliance cost, health practitioners

Administrative and Compliance Costs of Value Added Tax (VAT): A Review

This article surveys the existing literature on the compliance and administrative costs of VAT incurred by the businesses and the governments respectively. The review focuses on the concepts and components of VAT operating costs, the link between the tax compliance costs and the tax compliance decision, factors associated with compliance costs and the steps taken by various countries to mitigate these costs. The major studies of VAT compliance cost since 1980 and the methodologies adopted are summarised. The review of the studies shows that the VAT compliance costs are higher and significant in both absolute money terms and relative to tax revenue in developed as well as developing countries than the administrative costs and the compliance costs are highly regressive in nature which disproportionately affects the small businesses. Further, the psychological costs are underexplored in the VAT compliance cost literature due to the difficulty in measuring them. This article also highlights the understudied area of VAT compliance costs in India and the importance of exploring the compliance burden in India.

Does the Construction of a Water Ecological Civilization City Improve Green Total Factor Productivity? Evidence from a Quasi-Natural Experiment in China

Taking Water Ecological City Pilot (WECP) policy as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper adopts the PSM-DID method to investigate the impact of the WECP policy on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of China’s prefecture-level cities. The results show that the implementation of the WECP policy significantly inhibits the improvement of GTFP. Furthermore, we find the implementation of the WECP policy has squeezed out government technological expenditures to some extent and aggravated the compliance cost of enterprises, which has not caused the “innovation compensation effect”, thus failing to improve GTFP. The heterogeneity analyses show that the policy effects vary with the imbalance of China’s regional development and resource endowments. Developed regions can better overcome the possible negative impact that comes with policy implementation. Governments need to formulate different policy strategies and plans from an overall macro perspective.

Tax Administration Issues on Revenue Recognition after IFRS 15 Adoption in Indonesia

This study aims to provide a brief and analytical reporting on IFRS 15 adoption in Indonesia into PSAK 72 related to Income Tax and Value Added Tax issues that may arise. We use literature studies to collect data and strengthen it with in-depth interviews of taxpayers, PSAK standard setter, tax consulting practicioner, and Directorate General of Taxes official. Our findings demonstrate the need for entities to consider taxation issues that may arise due to revenue recognition developments. Unconformity that may arise between accounting and tax requires the entity to explain these differences by documenting them early. Taxpayers need to underline the burden of compliance arising from the IFRS 15 adoption, which is the compliance costs in the form of mark-to-market and realization taxation. In implementing PSAK 72 to align with the realization principle in the Income Tax Law, the taxpayer compliance cost will increase by making detailed fiscal reconciliations. From the VAT perspective, the Tax Paying Entrepreneurs need to make contract adjustments with the counterparty to ensure that the time of supply is the basis for determining the VAT payable. This research presents the gap between accounting and taxation so that it can be a lesson for application in other countries.

Can Malaysia’s National Affordable Housing Policy Guarantee Housing Affordability of Low-Income Households?

Housing affordability is a long-held issue in Malaysia, and housing policies have been implemented for low-income households over the years. However, there is a contradiction that housing affordability of low-income households has not been met, while the bulk of affordable housing is still vacant. In 2019, Malaysia enacted the National Affordable Housing Policy (DRMM) which was intended to improve housing affordability for low-income groups. This paper aims to answer why Malaysia’s long-term implementation of affordable housing policies cannot guarantee housing affordability, and whether the DRMM can effectively improve housing affordability as expected, by comparing the empirical factors of housing affordability. A literature review and a comparative analysis are adopted in the research. The paper concludes that low household income, high land price, construction cost and compliance cost, mismatch of supply and demand in terms of quantity, the instability of the national economy, low home financing ability, and incomprehensive housing planning have caused low housing affordability of low-income groups in Malaysia. The DRMM as anticipated can improve housing affordability by supplying affordable housing more precisely, lowering housing costs, and improving home financing ability. However, the exclusion of household income and economic factors may cause the ineffectiveness of the DRMM in improving housing affordability for low-income households.

A Requirements-Oriented Modelling Language for an Optimized Distribution of Business Processes on a Multi-Cloud Environment

Many companies resort to business process outsourcing (BPO) to survive in today's tough competition. This trend has been intensified with the advent of Cloud computing that brings a new way of paying and consuming resources. Nonetheless, preserving companies' knowhow, protecting sensitive data, and ensuring the compliance of business processes (BPs) remain among the most important challenges in BPO to the Cloud. An organization must therefore consider several factors to determine which BP parts should be outsourced and to assign them the most appropriate Cloud offers. This paper proposes an extension of the business process model notation (BPMN) that allows specifying the requirements of BP activities in terms of security, compliance, cost, performance, data transfer, and obfuscation. This extension is intended for the BP modelling phase and aims to assign to each activity the Cloud offer that best meets its requirements.