Deterrents of Tax Compliance among Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprises in Kericho Town, Kericho County- Kenya
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Date
2022-09-01
Authors
Chelangat, Judith
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
KESRA/JKUAT - Unpublished research project
Abstract
Governments all over the world collect taxes to finance public services. Taxpayers in Kenya
display varying levels in compliance to tax. In view of this, the general objective of this study
was to assess the influence/ assess of deterrents of tax compliance among Agri-business SMEs in Kericho Town. The specific objectives were to investigate the influence of Tax knowledge, tax regulations enforcement and tax compliance costs on tax compliance by Agri-business SMEs in Kericho Town. The study was anchored on the following theories namely: Planned Behaviour, Economic deterrence, Tax knowledge and Allingham and Sandmo theory. A
descriptive survey research design was adopted. The Target population of the study was 433
owners of Agri-business SMEs with the Sample size being 208. The study utilized Stratified
simple sampling. Questionnaires were the primary data collection tool. Data analysis was be
done using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 23 while data was
presented using both Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. From the findings, the
multiple correlation coefficient was R=0.910 indicating a strong relationship between tax
compliance and tax knowledge, tax regulations enforcement and compliance costs.
Coefficient of determination, R2, was found to be 0.824 showing that 82.4% of variation in
tax compliance is explained by tax knowledge, tax regulations enforcement and compliance
costs. The findings also revealed that two independent variables namely tax regulations
enforcement and tax knowledge positively and significantly correlated with tax compliance
whereas compliance costs had a negative and significant correlation with tax compliance.
Among the variables, tax regulations enforcement wielded the greatest correlation with tax
compliance with a coefficient of correlation (R) = 0.837, compliance costs and tax compliance
correlation coefficient (R) was -0.802 whereas tax knowledge and tax compliance correlation
coefficient, R was 0.678. Therefore, the study recommends that K.R.A and I.C.P.A.K should
make efforts to reach more SME owners for example by conducting regular seminars at fixed
intervals to allow planning on the part of SME owners. Additionally, the findings revealed
that tax regulations enforcement had a strong influence on tax compliance. Therefore, the
study recommends that regulator, that is, K.R.A should inspect SMEs more frequently and
impose more strict fines and penalties on non-complying SMEs. Further, findings revealed
that compliance costs strongly influenced tax compliance by agri-business SMEs. Therefore,
the study recommends reduction in costs such as personal expenses on returns by the regulator to enhance compliance. Finally, the findings revealed that the combined influence of tax knowledge, tax regulations enforcement and compliance costs on tax compliance was very
high. Therefore, the study recommends that improvement of tax knowledge, inspections and
accountability should be done mutually and not individually
Description
Tax Administration
Keywords
Tax compliance, Small and Medium Enterprises