FORMAL TAX COMPLIANCE IN INDONESIA THROUGH ELECTRONIC TAX FILING: A CASE STUDY OF MICRO, SMALL, AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMEs)

The implementation of electronic tax filing provides convenience to taxpayers in reporting their annual tax returns. The adoption of this policy, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises, is illustrated through the number of MSME taxpayers who report Electronic Annual Tax Return to the number of MSMEs registered as taxpayers. Increases have not followed annual increases in the number of MSME taxpayers who report Annual Tax Return. We investigated the possible correlation between business size and formal tax compliance use: data from the Directorate General of Taxes at the province level in Indonesia for 2014 – 2018. We employed the aggregate business-level Micro, Small, and Medium electronic tax filing data combined with the Base Transceiver Station data at the provincial level. We found that micro and small-scale taxpayers e – filing rate has a positive and significant effect on formal tax compliance. Yet, both of them have a non-linear relationship to formal tax compliance. These results imply that size or business scale MSME taxpayers is associated with formal tax compliance, and greater benefits can be obtained in a province with a high microscale taxpayer's e – filing rate.

Promoting public retirement savings accounts during tax filing: evidence from field experiments

In 2015, the U.S. Treasury Department launched myRA, a no-fee retirement account designed for people who lacked employer-sponsored retirement options. We report findings from two behavioral field experiments intended to motivate interest in using the tax refund to open and fund myRAs directly through the tax-filing process. These experiments, administered to more than 100,000 low-income tax filers in 2016, embedded persuasive messages in emails sent to filers and directly within online tax-filing software. We find that interest in myRA was generally very low, although interest and enrollment intentions varied depending on the framing of the program's benefits.

Reducing tax identity theft by identifying vulnerability points in the electronic tax filing process

Purpose Tax Identity Theft involves the illegal use of a potential taxpayer’s identity, usually the social security number, to fraudulently file a tax return and claim a refund. The victim is the real owner of the social security number who will have difficulties getting a tax refund, as the offender has already taken a refund for the year in question. This paper aims to investigate whether the increased use and adoption of electronic tax filing (i.e. E-Filing) technologies has inadvertently resulted in a corresponding growth in Tax Identity Theft. Design/methodology/approach Multiple regressions are used to analyze the data that is extracted from the Identity Theft complaint reports (maintained by the Federal Trade Commission) and the tax filing statistics (retrieved from the Internal Revenue Service). Findings The results indicate that E-Filing can indirectly but significantly increase Tax Identity Theft through the full mediation effects of individual Self-E-Filing and Direct Deposit adoption, after controlling for general Identity Theft, the number of Individual Tax Returns and Total Refunds. Originality/value The authors explore the association between the adoption of tax e-filing technologies and Tax Identity Theft. The findings suggest that the key loopholes in the Tax Identity Theft process are at the Self-E-Filing and the Direct Deposit points. Several practical recommendations for patching these loopholes are provided and discussed.

Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security for Whom? IRS Overreaches in Denying CARES Act Economic Impact Payments to Migrant Workers and Incarcerated Individuals

Individuals who received advance refunds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act met the eligibility criteria in their 2019 tax filings (or 2018 filings if they had not yet filed 2019 taxes). Advance refunds are treated as a refund of an overpayment of 2018 or 2019 taxes. Subsequent changes in tax filing status in 2020 do not retroactively make one ineligible for an advance refund. On May 6, the IRS issued guidance on its Economic Impact Payment Information Center website instructing incarcerated individuals and certain resident aliens that they should return the economic impact payments (also called advance refunds or stimulus payments) they received from the IRS. This guidance is not legally binding for two distinct reasons. First, it was issued without conforming to the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act. Second, the guidance exceeded the IRS’s rule-making authority because it contradicts unambiguous statutory language.