Through a large-scale taxpayer survey, the research team aim to precisely measure compliance costs across tax types. By matching the survey with administrative data, we will also compare these compliance costs to the actual taxes paid and examine heterogeneity across the firm-size distribution, tax types, and industrial sector. The survey will also examine the various drivers of compliance costs and examine whether digitalisation alleviates or exacerbates compliance challenges. Finally, we will pay particular attention to the barriers that firms face in adopting new digital tools, including the costs borne by firms. This survey stems from consultations with the URA and has two aims: (1) to produce a policy oriented report for the URA to inform their compliance improvement strategy, taxpayer education programmes, and efforts to facilitate technology adoptions; and (2) to produce high quality research outputs, initially as part of the lead researcher’s PhD project and ICTD working papers, and later submitted to an academic journal. Finally, we expect to use the survey results as a basis for designing a randomised intervention aimed at increasing the adoption and use of digital tax compliance tools, in close collaboration with the URA
Current Project