Taxpayers' Compliance from the Tax Officers' Perspective: A Grounded Theory Approach

Abstract

Indonesia is the country with the lowest tax ratio when compared to countries of similar economic sizes. The level of taxpayers' compliance influences the low tax ratio in Indonesia. This study explores and analyzes the factors affecting taxpayers' compliance from the perspective of tax officers interacting directly and intensively with taxpayers. Qualitative research methods with grounded theory analysis tools were used to analyze the results of interviews with informants. The selected informants for this study were tax officers with more than 15 years of work experience. The study results showed that economic and non-economic factors influence taxpayers' compliance. Government transparency and accountability in tax money are essential in shaping taxpayers' compliance. Law enforcement and the imposition of strict sanctions will create fairness for taxpayers who have complied. Government, Tax Authorities, and Taxpayers are the three parties of concern in forming taxpayers' compliance. Collaboration between the three parties will create a tax-conscious society. Taxpayers' compliance is not only formed by the taxpayers themselves, but also by the fiscal policymaking by the government, the implementation of the tax administration system by tax authorities, and the taxpayers' environment. The limitations of this study were the number of involved respondents, the timeframe of the study, and the limit of cases to the experiences, observations, and feelings of the tax officers as the informants. The novelty of this research is the formation of the taxpayers' compliance concept from the tax officers' perspective.