IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bcp/journl/v4y2020i8p777-783.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Marital Status and Educational Background as Determinants of Tax Compliance in Nigeria

Author

Listed:
  • Aregbesola, O.D

    (Department of Accounting and Finance, Bowen University Iwo, Nigeria)

  • Owosekun, A.O

    (Department of Economics, Bowen University Iwo, Nigeria)

  • Salawu, R.O

    (Department of Management and Accounting, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria)

Abstract

This study analysed the influence of marital status and educational background of the tax payers on Personal Income Tax compliance in Nigeria. The study employed a cross-sectional design which made use of a structured questionnaire. The population of the study comprised of employees who were 18 years and above in the public and private organizations as well as artisans and traders to represent the informal sector. The Taro Yamane formular was used to determine the sample size of 400 which was distributed among the three Southwestern states selected namely, Lagos, Oyo and Osun using proportionate sampling technique. Data were analysed using percentages, mean, standard deviation and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Findings showed that marital status significantly influence personal income tax compliance in Nigeria (P=0.005) and mean scores showed that singles were more compliant than other categories of marital status, like the married and divorced. Also, educational background does not significantly influence personal income tax compliance (P=0.338). The study concluded that in order for the government to achieve a desirable level of tax compliance among the populace, there is need for government to encourage the populace. Furthermore, the tax law should be more explicit and positioned in such a way as to improve its applicability.

Suggested Citation

  • Aregbesola, O.D & Owosekun, A.O & Salawu, R.O, 2020. "Marital Status and Educational Background as Determinants of Tax Compliance in Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 4(8), pages 777-783, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bcp:journl:v:4:y:2020:i:8:p:777-783
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/Digital-Library/volume-4-issue-8/777-783.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.rsisinternational.org/virtual-library/papers/marital-status-and-educational-background-as-determinants-of-tax-compliance-in-nigeria/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ronald G. Cummings & Jorge Martinez-Vazquez & Michael McKee & Benno Torgler, 2005. "Effects of Tax Morale on Tax Compliance: Experimental and Survey Evidence," CREMA Working Paper Series 2005-29, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    2. Pentland, Brian T. & Carlile, Paul, 1996. "Audit the taxpayer, not the return: Tax auditing as an expression game," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 21(2-3), pages 269-287.
    3. Kirchler,Erich, 2007. "The Economic Psychology of Tax Behaviour," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521876742, September.
    4. Jeyapalan Kasipillai & Jonathan Baldry & DS Prasada Rao, 2000. "Estimating the Size and Determinants of Hidden Income and Tax Evasion in Malaysia," Asian Review of Accounting, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 8(2), pages 25-42, February.
    5. Brand, Phil, 1996. "Compliance: A 21st Century Approach," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association, vol. 49(3), pages 413-19, September.
    6. Furnham, Adrian, 1983. "The protestant work ethic, human values and attitudes towards taxation," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 3(2), pages 113-128, June.
    7. Brand, Phil, 1996. "Compliance: A 21st Century Approach," National Tax Journal, National Tax Association;National Tax Journal, vol. 49(3), pages 413-419, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. James, Simon & Edwards, Alison, 2010. "An annotated bibliography of tax compliance and tax compliance costs," MPRA Paper 26106, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Towfiqul Islam Khan & Muntaseer Kamal & Faiyaz Talukdar, 2019. "Potential of Personal Income Tax in Bangladesh: An Examination of Survey Data," CPD Working Paper 126, Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD).
    3. James, Simon & Alley, Clinton, 2002. "Tax compliance, self-assessment and tax administration," MPRA Paper 26906, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Katarina Ott, 1998. "Tax Administration Reform in Transition: The Case of Croatia," Occasional paper series 05, Institute of Public Finance.
    5. Battiston, Pietro & Gamba, Simona, 2016. "The impact of social pressure on tax compliance: A field experiment," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 78-85.
    6. Ibn e Hassan & Ahmed Naeem & Sidra Gulzar, 2021. "Voluntary tax compliance behavior of individual taxpayers in Pakistan," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 7(1), pages 1-23, December.
    7. Boll, Karen, 2014. "Shady car dealings and taxing work practices: An ethnography of a tax audit process," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 1-19.
    8. Onu, Diana & Oats, Lynne, 2016. "“Paying tax is part of life”: Social norms and social influence in tax communications," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 29-42.
    9. Lovemore George Mwanandi, 2020. "Impact of Auditing on VAT Compliance: A case study of small VAT operators in Blantyre City of Malawi," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 4(11), pages 326-343, November.
    10. Colin C. Williams & Slavko Bezeredi, 2018. "An Institutional Theory Of Informal Entrepreneurship: Some Lessons From Fyr Macedonia," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 1-22, September.
    11. Colin C Williams, 2021. "Tackling Undeclared Self-Employment in South-East Europe: from Deterrents to Preventative Policy Measures," Economic Alternatives, University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria, issue 2, pages 280-298, July.
    12. Puklavec, Žiga & Kogler, Christoph & Stavrova, Olga & Zeelenberg, Marcel, 2023. "What we tweet about when we tweet about taxes: A topic modelling approach," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 1242-1254.
    13. James Alm & Kim M. Bloomquist & Michael McKee, 2017. "When You Know Your Neighbour Pays Taxes: Information, Peer Effects and Tax Compliance," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 38, pages 587-613, December.
    14. Colin C. Williams, 2023. "A Modern Guide to the Informal Economy," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 18668.
    15. Fábio Pereira Silva & Reinaldo Guerreiro & Eduardo Flores, 2019. "Voluntary versus enforced tax compliance: the slippery slope framework in the Brazilian context," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 66(2), pages 147-180, June.
    16. Benno Torgler & Friedrich Schneider, 2007. "What Shapes Attitudes Toward Paying Taxes? Evidence from Multicultural European Countries," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 88(2), pages 443-470, June.
    17. Julia M. Puaschunder, 2018. "Climate in the 21st Century," Proceedings of the 8th International RAIS Conference, March 26-27, 2018 018, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    18. Migchelbrink, Koen & Raymaekers, Pieter, 2023. "Nudging people to pay their parking fines on time. Evidence from a cluster-randomized field experiment," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 105(C).
    19. Margaret Lamb & Andrew Lymer, 1999. "Taxation research in an accounting context: future prospects and interdisciplinary perspectives," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(4), pages 749-776.
    20. repec:ces:ifodic:v:14:y:2017:i:4:p:19267788 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Castro, Lucio & Scartascini, Carlos, 2015. "Tax compliance and enforcement in the pampas evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 65-82.

    More about this item

    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:bcp:journl:v:4:y:2020:i:8:p:777-783. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Dr. Pawan Verma (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://rsisinternational.org/journals/ijriss/ .

    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.