Abstract:
Issue of tax non-compliance has remained a major canker in Ghana because of
deliberate attempt of people not to file and pay their taxes. Few investigations
on the drivers of tax compliance behaviour have revealed mixed findings
because they were not able to establish a comprehensive factor that drive
people to comply with tax obligation. The dearth of clarity on what drives
people to comply with tax limits a proper understanding on tax policy
formulation. In view of this, the study explored how tax compliance drives tax
compliance behaviour among self-employed in the Bawku West District. The
study proposed a comprehensive framework that institutional factors,
economic factors, individual factors and social factors drive tax obligation
behaviour among self-employed. This study employed the quantitative
approach with both cluster and convenience sampling technique and
questionnaire as data collection instrument. SPSS was used for processing data
while Structural Equation Model (SEM) was used to test the four hypotheses.
The study result shows that, among the four factors, institutional, individual
and social factors are the key determinants of tax compliance among self
employed. The study did not find any positive relationship between economic
factors and tax compliance behaviour. The study recommended that tax
authorities must simplify all the complex processes that tax payers go through
during tax filling. Government may consider employing mobile money
services to help facilitate tax payment among self-employed.
