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Mental Accounting of Self-Employed Taxpayers: On the Mental Segregation of the Net Income and the Tax Due

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  • Stephan Muehlbacher
  • Erich Kirchler

Abstract

Mental accounting practices of self-employed taxpayers are investigated in two studies. Interviews (N=30) revealed that perceptions of the tax due differ widely. While a majority mentally segregate the tax component from their net income, others claim ownership of the gross income as a whole and consequently experience a loss when paying taxes. A survey (N=172) shows that mental segregation is associated with age, income, and number of employees, and is further related to attitudes towards taxes and to self-reported compliance. It is concluded that especially inexperienced self-employed should be trained in favorable mental tax accounting practices to foster voluntary compliance.

Suggested Citation

  • Stephan Muehlbacher & Erich Kirchler, 2013. "Mental Accounting of Self-Employed Taxpayers: On the Mental Segregation of the Net Income and the Tax Due," FinanzArchiv: Public Finance Analysis, Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 69(4), pages 412-438, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:mhr:finarc:urn:sici:0015-2218(201312)69:4_412:maosto_2.0.tx_2-l
    DOI: 10.1628/001522108X675656
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Adams, Caroline & Webley, Paul, 2001. "Small business owners' attitudes on VAT compliance in the UK," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 195-216, April.
    2. Antonides, Gerrit & Manon de Groot, I. & Fred van Raaij, W., 2011. "Mental budgeting and the management of household finance," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 32(4), pages 546-555, August.
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Benno Torgler, 2021. "Behavioral Taxation: Opportunities and Challenges," CREMA Working Paper Series 2021-25, Center for Research in Economics, Management and the Arts (CREMA).
    3. Antonides, Gerrit & de Groot, I. Manon, 2022. "Mental budgeting of the self-employed without personnel," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    4. Stephan Muehlbacher & Andre Hartmann & Erich Kirchler & James Alm, 2023. "Declaring income versus declaring taxes in tax compliance experiments: Does the design of laboratory experiments affect the results?," Economic and Political Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(3), pages 334-349, July.
    5. Salahudeen Saeed, 2020. "Small Business Owners’ Perception On Value Added Tax Administration In Ghana: A Preliminary Study," Accounting & Taxation, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 12(1), pages 97-105.
    6. Sanjit Dhami & Narges Hajimoladarvish, 2020. "Mental Accounting, Loss Aversion, and Tax Evasion: Theory and Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 8606, CESifo.
    7. Olsen, Jerome & Kasper, Matthias & Kogler, Christoph & Muehlbacher, Stephan & Kirchler, Erich, 2019. "Mental accounting of income tax and value added tax among self-employed business owners," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 125-139.
    8. Huang, Jiaqi & Antonides, Gerrit & Nie, Fengying, 2020. "Is mental accounting of farm produce associated with more consumption of own-produced food?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    9. Hu Rongyu, 2023. "Validity verification of Mental Accounting in Public Goods Payment," Working Papers 2213, Waseda University, Faculty of Political Science and Economics.
    10. Nagel, Hanskje & Rosendahl Huber, Laura & Van Praag, Mirjam & Goslinga, Sjoerd, 2019. "The effect of a tax training program on tax compliance and business outcomes of starting entrepreneurs: Evidence from a field experiment," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(2), pages 261-283.
    11. Stephan Muehlbacher & Barbara Hartl & Erich Kirchler, 2017. "Mental Accounting and Tax Compliance," Public Finance Review, , vol. 45(1), pages 118-139, January.
    12. Silva, Emmanuel Marques & Moreira, Rafael de Lacerda & Bortolon, Patricia Maria, 2023. "Mental Accounting and decision making: a systematic literature review," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    mental accounting; segregation; tax compliance; tax evasion; voluntary compliance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty
    • 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
    • M13 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - New Firms; Startups

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