Abstract
E-filing and e-form are considered as online tools that may be utilized as an alternative for taxpayers to report their annual tax returns. These two applications are expected to be used as the right solution for taxpayers to carry out their tax obligations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Reporting of the Annual Individual Income Tax Return at Regional Office of Directorate General of Taxes of North Sumatra I in 2021 was found to increase by 16.13% compared to 2020. However, in the preliminary survey results, the taxpayers were found tending to queue at the Tax Service Office to report the Annual Tax Return manually. Referring to this phenomenon, this study was conducted to identify the behavior of individual taxpayers towards the use of e-filing and e-forms in the submission of the Annual Tax Return. This study was classified as a qualitative study with a naturalistic model. This interpretive study was carried out by using a phenomenological approach. 12 Individual Taxpayers were involved in this study as participants, which were determined through criterion sampling technique. The data of this study were collected by means of the natural setting method with observation techniques, in-depth interviews, and literature study. The collected data were then analyzed by using data analysis techniques of phenomenological study according to Creswell with the assistance of NVivo 11 plus software through the stages of analysis, including data input, coding, exploration, visualization, and presentation. The results showed that e-filing and e-form information systems, which tend to have complexities in terms of procedures and various features in data entry in Annual Tax Return reporting, were found to be capable of creating lazy behavior of taxpayers in the submission of the Annual Tax Return. The complexity faced by taxpayers tended to be caused by a complete lack of knowledge of the use of e-filing and e-form information systems. This was caused by the lack of socialization distributed to individual taxpayers by the DGT. Nevertheless, taxpayers were still found to be reporting their Annual Tax Return, out to avoid tax penalties.
Highlights
In the course of time, tax reform is likely to be carried out in Indonesia, by changing the tax collection system from an official assessment system to a self-assessment system
The complexity faced by taxpayers tended to be caused by a complete lack of knowledge of the use of e-filing and e-form information systems
This was caused by the lack of socialization distributed to individual taxpayers by the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT)
Summary
In the course of time, tax reform is likely to be carried out in Indonesia, by changing the tax collection system from an official assessment system to a self-assessment system. Referring to the results of a study conducted by Suhardi & Laksito (2020), the application of e-filing was found to provide a positive influence on taxpayer compliance in the Tax Service Office of Pratama Semarang Gayamsari area. These results are in line with the study by Indah & Setiawan (2020), which reported that the implementation of the e-filing system had a positive and substantial effect on individual taxpayers’ compliance, because the e-filing system was capable of providing convenience for taxpayers in carrying out their tax obligations
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