Tax Compliance in Ghana: Evidence Self-employed from Bawku West District | Book Publisher International

A number of reasons have been recognised for tax obligation on citizenry. These same reasons hold for the imposition of tax on the self-employed. One of the principal reasons for taxing the selfemployed is to create the required amount of revenue for the government to implement developmental projects to better the lives of the citizenry. Without the required revenue generation through taxes, no government can accomplish anything important in terms of development such as schools, hospitals, roads, housing, water, sanitation and electricity. This study examined the factors influencing tax compliance, taxpayers understanding of the tax system and specific measures to combating tax compliance in Ghana. The explanatory quantitative research approach and descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation was adopted and used for the analysis. 379 selfemployed were engaged for the study using a questionnaire as a data collection instrument. The study results reveals that, (1) The level of tax compliance is more affected by taxpayers’ confidence in the government; (2) One’s financial situation can influence (either positively or negatively) his/her tax compliance; (3) Educating taxpayers on their social responsibilities make them comply with tax laws; (4) The degree of trust between the taxpayer and the government affects tax compliance; whiles tax audit on the contrary does not affect tax compliance among the self-employed in the Bawku West District. The implication of this study is that, for taxpayers to increase their compliance to the tax systems, the government and the public services should give them more reasons to do so, by ensuring fairness and putting their taxes into good use by providing them with tangible project and programmes so as to increase the welfare of taxpayers.

Author(s) Details

Mr. Simon Akumbo Eugene Mbilla
Department of Business Studies, Regentropfen College of Applied Science, Bolgatanga, Ghana and Department of Accountancy, Bolgatanga Polytechnic, P.O. Box 767, Bolgatanga, Ghana

Dr. Joseph Dery Nyeadi
Management Studies Department, University of Mines and Technology, P.O. Box 237, Tarkwa, Ghana

Mr. David Amoah Akolgo
Department of Accountancy, Bolgatanga Polytechnic, P.O. Box 767, Bolgatanga, Ghana.

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