The effectiveness of the e-tax system in encouraging tax compliance has been largely unexplored. Thus, the current study aims to examine the interrelationship between technological predictors in explaining tax compliance intention among certified tax professionals. Based on the literature on information system success and tax compliance intention, this paper proposed an expanded conceptual framework that incorporates convenience and perception of reduced compliance costs as predictors and satisfaction as a mediator. The data were collected from 650 tax professionals who used e-Filing and 492 who used e-Form through an online survey and analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. The empirical results suggest that participants’ perceived service quality of e-Filing services and perceptions of reduced compliance costs positively influence users’ willingness to comply with tax regulations. The latter predictor is also, and only, significant among e-Form users. The empirical results also provide statistical evidence for the mediating role of satisfaction in the relationship between all predictors and tax compliance intention. This study encourages tax policymakers and e-tax filing providers to improve their services to increase user satisfaction and tax compliance.

This study explores the interplay between tax incentives, creative compliance, and innovation in enhancing business resilience and sustainability among micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Indonesia, addressing gaps in the existing literature regarding their interrelationships during crises. A cross-sectional survey of 360 MSMEs was conducted, utilizing the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) approach to analyze complex relationships among variables. The findings reveal that creative compliance, including tax planning and avoidance, does not directly impact resilience or sustainability. While tax incentives did not significantly enhance resilience during crises, they contributed to long-term sustainability. Innovation emerged as a critical factor linking creative compliance to business success and fully mediating the effects of tax incentives on resilience. This study emphasizes the necessity for MSMEs to prioritize innovation in their strategies, particularly in conjunction with effective tax practices, and highlights the need for government support through simplified regulatory frameworks to foster an innovative business environment. Limitations include the challenges of incorporating control variables in SEM and the need for further research into the long-term effects of these factors on sustainable performance.

Purpose: Even as governments worldwide take extraordinary measures and spend unprecedented amounts of their state budgets to combat COVID-19, tax compliance remains challenging. Therefore, this study employs previously identified predictors to investigate the factors that persuade individual taxpayers to comply with the law.Design/methodology/approach: Individual taxpayers in Indonesia (N = 699) who had experienced COVID-19-related benefits were asked to assess the provided evaluation regarding the tax compliance intention and its determinants. The bootstrapping analysis was employed using smart partial least squares (SmartPLS) to test the hypotheses.Findings: The results suggest that the perceived fiscal exchange, tax morality, tax fairness, tax complexity and the power of authority are significant determinants of tax compliance intention. This study also supports the indirect effects of numerous factors on tax compliance intention through the perceived fiscal exchange and tax morality. In practice, reminding taxpayers of how tax payments fund public services, improving taxpayer morale, increasing the perceived fairness of the tax system, streamlining the tax code and managing the effectiveness of tax administration could all lead to a greater intention to comply with the law.Originality/value: In addition to highlighting the dynamics of tax compliance amid the unprecedented pandemic crisis, our findings also provide insight into the importance of perceived fiscal exchange and tax morality for achieving and sustaining planned behavior to comply with tax rules.

This paper endeavours to investigate whether a complex tax system influences firms’ propensity toward tax evasion across countries. To achieve the objectives of this study, we utilised the World Bank Enterprise Survey and the World Bank’s Doing Business databases covering more than 46,000 companies from 83 countries. Our study revealed that the increased time required to pay taxes and higher total tax payments were associated with a greater extent and incidence of tax evasion among firms. The consistency of these benchmark regression results was proven through endogeneity analysis and several robustness tests. Furthermore, our heterogeneity analyses showed that the effect of tax complexity on firm tax evasion was more prominent in low- and lower-middle-income countries and also in the primary industry. These findings offer promising evidence for policymakers, particularly in low- and lower-middle-income countries where the majority of companies operate in the primary industry. Addressing the complexity of the tax system could potentially mitigate the adverse impact on tax evasion levels in these countries. Furthermore, our spatial analysis provides valuable insights, emphasising the potential impact of tax complexity in neighbouring countries and underscoring the necessity for policymakers in the home countries to strategise on harmonising and streamlining their tax systems.

Purpose — This study explores the perspectives of key figures from Islamic boarding schools (Kiai Pesantren) in Depok City, Indonesia, regarding the efforts to promote fiscal transparency, participation and accountability (FTPA) by the government for enhancing taxpayer compliance. Design/Methodology/Approach — This study is based on the interpretivist paradigm. Keywords related to Muslims’ obligations, zakat and taxes were sourced to find relevant literature. A thematic analysis was conducted of in-depth interview data from Kiai Pesantren regarding their perspectives on state fund management. Findings — The results show the importance of FTPA in state fund management, especially when aligned with Islamic principles. Fiscal transparency involves directing tax funds towards poverty alleviation alongside infrastructure development. The involvement of religious organisations can be aimed at fostering moral responsibility among officials, while citizen participation can be facilitated through open data for budget planning. The accountability of public officials must be accompanied by efforts to minimise corruption and enforce strict punishments for corrupt activities. Moreover, fully crediting zakat payments for Muslim taxpayers could improve tax compliance, but this requires assurance through future policy reforms. Originality/Value — This study contributes to the literature by integrating Islamic principles into the framework of FTPA. Research Limitations/Implications — Broader insights into tax compliance management and support for Sharīʿah-based taxation could be addressed by involving Islamic scholars across countries.

Unlike previous empirical studies, this paper investigates the contemporaneous and lagged impacts of international remittances on poverty alleviation using data for 65 low- and- middle-income countries from 2002 to 2016. By using two-stage least square (2SLS) regression analysis, this study establishes that, in general, international remittances per gross domestic product (GDP) significantly mitigate poverty. On average, a 10-percentage-point increase in remittances will lead to a similar decrease in the poverty headcount ratio at USD 1.90 a day, a 4.8-percentage-point decline in poverty gap ratio at USD 1.90 a day, and a 6.7-percentage-point reduction in the poverty gap ratio at USD 3.20 a day. This result remains robust with the inclusion of political factors in the model. Moreover, the system-generalized method of moments (SGMM) estimations found that the contemporaneous effects of international remittances are much more substantial than their lagged effects. This indicates that most of the poverty alleviation role of remittances is contributed by its direct effect on increasing the wealth index of recipient households rather than the spillover effect on other members of the community. Therefore, we strongly suggest that efforts be made to improve the remittance infrastructures, especially in recipient countries, and the development of cooperatives in the enclaves of migrant workers to spread the beneficial effects of remittances to all members of society.