IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aan/journl/v5y2023i1p14-27.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Tax Knowledge, Tax Complexity and Tax Compliance in South Africa

Author

Listed:
  • Baneng Naape

    (Department of Economics, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa)

Abstract

Purpose: the key objective of this study is to investigate the influence of tax knowledge and tax complexity on tax compliance in South Africa. Design: the data collection process involved self-structured questionnaires targeted at South African personal income taxpayers. The data was analyzed by means of descriptive analysis, inferential statistics and binary logistic regression. Findings: the findings from the Pearson correlation test revealed that knowledge on tax types, tax payment methods and tax penalties is positively associated with tax compliance and this association was found to be statistically significant. In addition, the results from the binary logistic regression revealed that knowledge on tax penalties is positively associated with higher probabilities of tax compliance and this association was likewise found to be statistically significant. This, to some extent, implies that tax penalties are well enforced by the government to induce tax compliant behaviour. Meanwhile, demographic factors such as the level of educational attainment as well as perceptions on the state of democracy were found to play a significant role in inducing tax compliance. Practical Implications: the study recommends the expansion of educational programmes that inform taxpayers about the different tax types they are liable for, the procedure for calculating and filing tax returns as well as the financial and legal consequences of exhibiting a tax non-compliant behaviour. Originality: The research topic is relevant for the management of tax systems especially during times wherein policymakers are in search of approaches to collect additional budget revenues. The study also presents a historical overview of problems that are observed in the income tax system of the Republic of South Africa, and this analysis is linked to the problems of tax compliance.

Suggested Citation

  • Baneng Naape, 2023. "Tax Knowledge, Tax Complexity and Tax Compliance in South Africa," Finance, Accounting and Business Analysis, University of National and World Economy, Institute for Economics and Politics, vol. 5(1), pages 14-27, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:aan:journl:v:5:y:2023:i:1:p:14-27
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://faba.bg/index.php/faba/article/view/153/69
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    tax knowledge; tax complexity; tax compliance; South Africa;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • H26 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Tax Evasion and Avoidance
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aan:journl:v:5:y:2023:i:1:p:14-27. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Yanko Hristozov (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ienwebg.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.