A comparison of psychological factors for tax compliance: self employed versus salaried people

Tax compliance is defined as degree to which a taxpayer complies (or fails to comply) with the tax rules of his country. For example: by declaring income, filing a return, and paying the tax due in a timely manner. In tax compliance research, there has been a significant shift in research paradigms, from an emphasis on enforcement to approaches that stress cooperation. The taxpayers’ attitude on compliance may be influenced by many factors, which eventually influence taxpayer's behavior. The present research paper concludes social and psychological conditions, including attitudes and moral beliefs about tax evasion's propriety, as antecedents of tax compliance. Besides attitudes, personal norms are important determinants of tax compliance. Behavioral intentions are determined also by subjective norms. The present paper offers a “slippery slope framework” as a way of integrating of various social and psychological aspects into a unified framework. We conclude with recommendations that can improve compliance, based on this unifying framework. Primary data has been collected from the 100 people working in Delhi and NCR selected by convenience sampling. A self-structured questionnaire using 5 Point Likert Scale has been administered to the sample group to investigate the psychological factors under study. The Statistical Tests used are Standard Deviation and t-test etc. Data has been analyzed with the help of Statistical Package of Social Science.