We analyze the compliance costs of individual taxpayers resulting from the German income tax. Using survey data that has been raised between December 2008 and April 2009, we find evidence for a considerably higher cost burden of self-employed taxpayers. Taxable income and the demand for external...

This paper investigates the presence of framing effects and loss aversion in tax reporting behavior of wage earners using a balanced panel of German income tax return data. Reference dependence and loss aversion suggest that individuals in a perceived loss situation attribute higher value to a...