Abstract

The existing studies on determinants of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) tax compliance behaviour in Sub-Saharan Africa have been criticised on account of limited study scope which compromises generalisation and poor theorisation that have little or no support for the research questions of such studies. The current study is rooted in behavioural economics theory and elicits information from 392 participants from all geopolitical zones of Nigeria using paper-and-pencil survey instruments. The study’s findings reveal that tax system complexity, tax deterrence sanction, tax non-compliance opportunity, tax information and tax attitude and perception are important determinants of tax compliance behaviour, while tax rate and tax compliance cost may not necessarily exert significant influence. The overall conclusion from the study reveals that certain economic and behavioural factors are effective in either encouraging or discouraging tax compliance behaviour. The study also reveals tax information to be one of the most significant drivers of tax compliance; however, little or nothing is known of this construct in the existing literature. The theoretical and policy implications of the study are discussed and suggestions for future studies are offered.

摘要

现有关于撒哈拉以南非洲中小企业 (SMEs) 税收合规行为决定因素的研究因研究范围有限而受到批评，这影响了概括性和理论性差，对此类研究的研究问题几乎没有支持。目前的研究植根于行为经济学理论，并使用纸笔调查工具从尼日利亚所有地缘政治区的 392 名参与者那里获取信息。研究结果表明，税收制度的复杂性、税收威慑制裁、税收违规机会、税收信息以及税收态度和感知是税收合规行为的重要决定因素，而税率和税收合规成本不一定会产生显着影响。研究的总体结论表明，某些经济和行为因素可以有效地鼓励或阻止税收合规行为。该研究还表明，税务信息是税务合规的最重要驱动因素之一；然而，在现有文献中对这种结构知之甚少或一无所知。讨论了该研究的理论和政策含义，并为未来的研究提供了建议。