Tax compliance and non-deterrence approach: a systematic review

Abstract

PurposeThis research systematically reviewed studies on tax compliance based on five determinants consisting of tax services, trust in government, personal norm, social norm and religiosity.Design/methodology/approachThe research used a vote-counting method to synthesize 279 studies consisting of 160 empirical studies and 119 non-empirical studies conducted from 1946 until 2017.FindingsThe research has made a relatively robust conclusion related to the impacts of determinant factors on tax compliance. Tax service and trust in government are the most critical factors to increase tax compliance. Personal norm, social norm and religiosity encourage tax compliance, yet the influence is not as strong as expected.Practical implicationsThis research suggests that improving tax service and government trust are more effective and relatively easier to implement than developing the taxpayers' positive behaviors.Originality/valueSeveral studies conducted to synthesize the impacts of determinant factors on tax compliance were only limited to the empirical research which provided sufficient statistical data. On the other hand, there were many substantial research types discussing tax compliance without involving statistical numbers. The facts have distorted the complete picture of tax compliance. Recently, no synthesis studies have comprehensively combined and compared the empirical with non-empirical research based on the related theories. Thus, the synthesis studies that discuss tax compliance based on non-deterrence approach are still limited.