The current experimental study examined the effect of monetary rewards on tax compliance. Eighty-six participants were randomly assigned to one control and two reward conditions (low vs. high reward). Overall, tax compliance was not affected by the rewards. However, a change in compliance...

Tax compliance in a between-subjects experiment was higher when the uncertainty about the occurrence of an audit was not resolved until three weeks after participants had filed their tax returns than in a control treatment with immediate uncertainty resolution. Results have important...

Since the standard model of income tax evasion (Allingham & Sandmo, 1972; Srinivasan, 1973) was published, much research has tested its four parameters (level of actual income, tax rate, audit probability, penalty rate) for empirical validity. Surveys, laboratory experiments and analysis of...

The effect of different audit patterns on future compliance is studied in two experiments. A repeated measures design is used with participants filing taxes 60 times. Study 1 focuses on taxpayers' immediate reactions to audits and examines whether a strong decrease in compliance following an...

We used decision-making experiments to investigate tax compliance of women and men and focused on gender-role orientation as well as on the second-to-fourth digit ratio (2D:4D), a putative marker of prenatal testosterone exposure. In 60 experimental periods, participants were endowed with a...

The Slippery Slope Framework of tax compliance postulates that citizens’ compliance depends on the power of the authorities to enforce compliance and/or trust in the authorities and voluntary cooperation. While trust is widely recognized as a strong determinant of cooperation, empirical...

This study investigates experts’ and laypeople's social representations of the financial and economic crisis, as widely discussed in the media after the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Financial experts (n=156) and laypeople (n=153) with low versus high confidence in the economic recovery...

Mental accounting practices of self-employed taxpayers are investigated in two studies. Interviews (N=30) revealed that perceptions of the tax due differ widely. While a majority mentally segregate the tax component from their net income, others claim ownership of the gross income as a whole and...