Moderating influence of religiosity on the causality between taxpaying attitudes and tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms in Nigeria

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the moderating influence of religiosity on the effect of taxpaying attitudes on the tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms in Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach Using a cross-sectional survey design, we collected primary data from 368 owner managers of entrepreneurial firms in Southwest Nigeria using structured questionnaires. Respondents were purposefully selected based on the purposive sampling technique. The data collected with the structured questionnaires were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Two linear regression models were compared. Findings Estimations in Models 1 and 2 suggest that taxpayers’ attitudes and religiosity (intra- and interreligiosity) have significant effects on the tax compliance behaviour of firms, but the influence of intrareligiosity is insignificant. Estimations in Model 3 suggest that taxpaying attitudes without the moderating influence of religiosity exerted a significant effect on tax compliance behaviour by 13%, while taxpaying attitudes with the moderating influence of religiosity exerted 17%. Estimations in Model 4 suggest that taxpaying attitudes with the moderating influence of the interreligiosity dimension had a more significant contribution to the changes in tax compliance behaviour than the intrareligious dimension. Research limitations/implications From the findings, the following policy implications can be deduced: (i) if taxpayers’ attitudes improved and religiosity was leveraged by the tax authorities, tax compliance behaviour of entrepreneurial firms would be induced in Nigeria; (ii) the consistent positive influence is a strong indication that religious values are critical elements of tax compliance interventions that should be considered by policymakers when designing public policies on tax evasion and avoidance in developing countries. Originality/value We bridge the gaps in the literature because our study affirmed that taxes are religiously driven. In addition, the study validates the applicability of theory of planned behaviour in investigating the moderating influence of religiosity on the causality between taxpaying attitude and tax compliance in the developing context.

Determinants of Tax Compliance Behaviour among Rental Income Earners in Pokhara

Rental tax is an important source of revenue for local government units. After Nepal adopted fiscal federalism, concerns have been shown by policymakers as well as academicians on the fiscal sustainability of the local government units. In this context, this study attempts to explore tax compliance behaviour among rental income owners in Pokhara. The study is based on a survey of 196 households located in wards 9, 11 and 17 of Pokhara Metropolitan City. The wards represent commercial, semi-urban, and densely populated areas of the city respectively. The required data were gathered employing a self-administered questionnaire comprising Likert scales to measure tax awareness, attitude towards tax, cost of non-compliance, peer influence for compliance, government incentives, and tax compliance behavior of the rental income earner. The data collected were analyzed employing ANOVA, correlation and multiple regression. The research revealed a positive relationship between tax awareness, attitude towards tax, peer influence, and government incentives with tax compliances. The study findings depict that the taxpayers’ awareness and perception towards tax are important variables that affect the compliance behavior of rental taxpayers. Moreover, the results reveal that the rental income earner in Pokhara does not comply with the tax rules due to the lower cost of non-compliance as negative relationship established was found between tax compliance and the cost of non-compliance. Metropolitan tax authority needs to focus on awareness and government incentives rather than the cost of non-compliance for better adherence to tax rules among rental taxpayers.

Compliance Behaviour of New Zealand Exporters with Best Practices of Supply Chain Security

<p>Uninterrupted growth of international trade and the constant threats to global supply chains have led to the emergence of numerous voluntary compliance guidelines based on standards and compliance. Initiatives, such as, the Authorised Economic Operators is the result of the global efforts to facilitate, prevent and secure international trade against cross-border crime. The Authorised Economic Operator is an initiative of the World Customs Organisation and its member countries. Its core philosophy is developing public to private partnerships for the safety of international trade and trade facilitation. These initiatives are growing in scope with a variety of programmes developed by governments. The objective of these programmes is encouraging an ethos of voluntary compliance based on standards, best practices and self-governance. Certified firms can obtain a trusted trader status and cross-border benefits when they demonstrate that their supply chain is secure. New Zealand has its own programme called the Secure Export Scheme. While this programme is voluntary in nature, firms entering the programme are required to adopt, maintain, and comply with the standards of security for their supply chain. This thesis investigates the compliance behaviour of New Zealand exporters with the standards of security of the Secure Export Scheme. The Authorised Economic Programme is a new concept, and while there is scholarly research of other types of voluntary standards, research in this particular area is minimal. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine the compliance behaviour of firms that have been part of the programme since inception. Accordingly, this study is guided by the various views of the compliance theory and proffers a conceptual framework to delineate the different actors and factors that influence firms’ compliance behaviour. The study measured compliance and non-compliance of firms to understand the underlying patterns with specific best practices. This study contributes towards our current understanding of compliance behaviour. While, overall, the compliance of the New Zealand exporters with the best practices is high, there are some areas of concern. The study further identified that a number of firms were not compliant with certain best practices. This finding indicates that other factors, such as, the way the governing body presents its written requirements might influence the compliance behaviour with those specific best practices. The conceptual model proposed in this study lays the foundation for further research seeking to probe compliance behaviour of Authorised Economic Operators.</p>

Compliance Behaviour of New Zealand Exporters with Best Practices of Supply Chain Security

<p>Uninterrupted growth of international trade and the constant threats to global supply chains have led to the emergence of numerous voluntary compliance guidelines based on standards and compliance. Initiatives, such as, the Authorised Economic Operators is the result of the global efforts to facilitate, prevent and secure international trade against cross-border crime. The Authorised Economic Operator is an initiative of the World Customs Organisation and its member countries. Its core philosophy is developing public to private partnerships for the safety of international trade and trade facilitation. These initiatives are growing in scope with a variety of programmes developed by governments. The objective of these programmes is encouraging an ethos of voluntary compliance based on standards, best practices and self-governance. Certified firms can obtain a trusted trader status and cross-border benefits when they demonstrate that their supply chain is secure. New Zealand has its own programme called the Secure Export Scheme. While this programme is voluntary in nature, firms entering the programme are required to adopt, maintain, and comply with the standards of security for their supply chain. This thesis investigates the compliance behaviour of New Zealand exporters with the standards of security of the Secure Export Scheme. The Authorised Economic Programme is a new concept, and while there is scholarly research of other types of voluntary standards, research in this particular area is minimal. To the best of the researcher’s knowledge, this is one of the first studies to examine the compliance behaviour of firms that have been part of the programme since inception. Accordingly, this study is guided by the various views of the compliance theory and proffers a conceptual framework to delineate the different actors and factors that influence firms’ compliance behaviour. The study measured compliance and non-compliance of firms to understand the underlying patterns with specific best practices. This study contributes towards our current understanding of compliance behaviour. While, overall, the compliance of the New Zealand exporters with the best practices is high, there are some areas of concern. The study further identified that a number of firms were not compliant with certain best practices. This finding indicates that other factors, such as, the way the governing body presents its written requirements might influence the compliance behaviour with those specific best practices. The conceptual model proposed in this study lays the foundation for further research seeking to probe compliance behaviour of Authorised Economic Operators.</p>

A Study on Critical Factors of Tax Compliance Behaviour among Small and Medium Enterprises in Libya

Tax compliance can be described as the level to which taxpayers obey or fail to obey the rules of taxation of their country. This is an admitted fact that the aim of an effective administration of tax is to enhance the voluntary compliance of tax with the use of all possible approaches that may include penalties as well. The primary purpose of this study is to assess the tax compliance behaviour among small and medium enterprises in Libya. This study provides a cornerstone for those who are looking for the reasons for tax compliance to be low. Therefore, this study examines the determinants of tax compliance and tax compliance behaviour. To achieve the goals of this study, a questionnaire survey was administered. Multiple regressions were used to test the formulated hypotheses. The results of this study show how the behaviour of tax compliance can be influenced by poor awareness, unfair taxes, low morale, strict authorities, tax rate and tax penalties. In relation to the practical and theoretical contributions, so far, to the best of the researcher’s knowledge, no scientific research has been done on this. This research would assist politicians, tax officials and the government of Libya in researching this phenomenon. Keywords: Tax compliance, Tax compliance behaviour, Determinants of tax, Tax knowledge, Tax penalty

The Role of Mediating effects of User Satisfaction and Behavioural Intention on the Influence of the e-Tax System on Tax Compliance Behaviour: An application of Bootstrapping Technique

The purpose of this study was premised on the role of mediating effects of user satisfaction and behavioural intention on the influence of the quality of the e-tax system on tax compliance behaviour. A mixed-methods approach (sequential explanatory design) was applied where the qualitative findings were used to supplement the results from the quantitative findings. A PLS-SEM technique with SmartPLS 3 was used to analyse data quantitatively while the qualitative data were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results revealed that behavioural intention mediates only the relationship between information quality and tax compliance behaviour. When multiple mediators are used (behavioural intention and user satisfaction) the findings unveiled that service quality and system quality have a significant positive indirect effect on tax compliance behaviour.

The Effects of Tax Knowledge, Tax Complexity and Tax Morale Towards Tax Compliance Behaviour Among Salaried Group in Malaysia

This study examines the relationship between tax knowledge, complexity and morale with the tax compliance behaviour among salaried group in Malaysia. A structured questionnaire were distributed to the private and government sector employees throughout Malaysia. The data analysis from 152 completed responses revealed that tax knowledge, complexity and morale proved to have significant influences on the tax compliance behaviour among salaried group. The findings of this study not only contribute to literature in exploring determinants that encourage voluntary compliance among the taxpayers under the Self-Assessment System (SAS) in Malaysia, they also provide insights to the governing bodies and the tax authorities of the needs to improve the current tax policy and merangka strategic movement in improving tax literacy among the taxpayers. This present study, however, has limitations due to the use of closed questionnaires that might not capture further information completely on the understanding of tax regulations and the factors causing non-compliance.