External Tax Professionals’ Views on Compliance Behaviour of Corporation

Most corporation employed external tax professionals (ETP) to handle tax matters on their behalf. ETP with their superior knowledge and expertise may have the ability to influence their clients’ compliance behaviour. Regardless of the expanding role of ETP in tax reporting process, very little research has been directed at examining their perceptions. This study, therefore, investigates the compliance behaviour of corporate taxpayers from the views of ETP. Perceived tax complexity and tax psychological cost had the greatest impact in influencing the non-compliance behaviour of corporate taxpayers, in terms of under-reporting of income, over-claiming of expenses and overall non-compliance. It is believed that the findings of this study have made contribution to the relevant body of knowledge, as well as to the tax policy makers in devising measures to enhance voluntary compliance of corporation, particularly in the emerging economies. Future tax initiatives should incorporate research findings and suggestions made in this study and existing studies as well as experiences from other tax regimes both in the advanced and emerging economies.