Sanctions: Panacea for Income Tax Non-Compliance Among Ghanaian Self-Employed?

Abstract

Income tax from self-employed is very important for governments but compliance among self-employed leaves much to be desired. This study used hypothetical questionnaire to a sample of 380 self-employed in the Accra Metropolis. Appling simple regression analysis and Analysis of Variance, this study finds positive effect each of sanction and cooperation on compliance. Though the coefficient of the sanction as enforcement strategy is insignificant, a joint significance test of sanctions and cooperation on tax compliance shows that sanction and cooperation jointly significantly influence tax compliance among self-employed. The study recommends that tax authorities should switch their approach to tax administration from a one-size-fits-all enforcement model (sanctions) to a blend of strategies and possible use sanctions as last resort.

Keywords: Tax Compliance, sanctions, SME Tax