Tax Administration and Compliance

Research Theme

Tax Administration and Compliance

Many of the challenges low-income countries face in mobilising domestic resources are related to tax administration as much as tax policy. Our research on this theme encompasses all aspects of tax administration, from technology adoption, to data management and strategies for collecting revenue from different types of taxpayers. Tax compliance is a key focus, as low-income countries struggle with widespread evasion, corruption, and limited administrative capacity. Our research on compliance includes survey-based studies of taxpayers’ perceptions and attitudes, case studies, and large-scale field experiments.

Tax Administration and Compliance

Led By

Tax Administration and Compliance Library

Journal Article

Tax obsessions: Taxpayer registration and the informal sector in sub-Saharan Africa

May 2022
Mick Moore

Working Paper

Mandating Digital Tax Tools as a Response to Covid: Evidence from Eswatini

May 2022
Fabrizio Santoro, Razan Amine, Tanele Magongo

Journal Article

The Economic Impact of the Pandemic in Rwanda: An Analysis of Firm-Level VAT Data

April 2022
Giulia Mascagni, Adrienne Lees

Journal Article

Active Ghosts: Nil-filing in Rwanda

April 2022
Giulia Mascagni, Fabrizio Santoro, Denis Mukama, John Karangwa, Naphtal Hakizimana

Journal ArticlePartner Publication

Local Elites as State Capacity: How City Chiefs Use Local Information to Increase Tax Compliance in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

March 2022
Pablo Balán, Augustin Bergeron, Gabriel Tourek, Jonathan Weigel

BookPartner Publication

Innovations in Tax Compliance: Building Trust, Navigating Politics, and Tailoring Reform

February 2022
Roel Dom, Anna Custers, Stephen Davenport, Wilson Prichard

Working Paper

Digital financial services and digital IDs: What potential do they have for better taxation in Africa?

February 2022
Fabrizio Santoro, Laura Muñoz Perez, Wilson Prichard, Giulia Mascagni

Working Paper

Should Governments Tax Digital Financial Services? A Research Agenda to Understand Sector-Specific Taxes on DFS

February 2022
Laura Muñoz Perez, Giulia Mascagni, Wilson Prichard, Fabrizio Santoro

Working Paper

The Promise and Limitations of Information Technology for Tax Mobilisation

February 2022
Oyebola Okunogbe, Fabrizio Santoro

Journal Article

The Rise of China and Contestation in Global Tax Governance

January 2022
Martin Hearson, Rasmus Corlin Christensen

Journal Article

Tax Compliance in Rwanda: Evidence from a Message Field Experiment

December 2021
Giulia Mascagni, Christopher Nell

Working Paper

Glimpses of Fiscal States in sub-Saharan Africa

November 2021
Mick Moore

Virtual

19 August 2026 – 11:00

•

Timezone: UTC

This webinar will bring together researchers and practitioners to examine what AI adoption means in practice for African tax administrations and which applications need stronger DPI foundations.

Virtual

15 December 2025 – 15:00

•

Timezone: Europe/London

ICTD Research Fellow Giovanni Occhiali will join a high-level panel during the launch of Tax Justice Network’s ‘Admin Data for Tax Justice’ database.

Virtual

3 September 2025 – 03:30

•

Timezone: UTC

ICTD Research Fellow Mick Moore will be speaking at Arutha’s Debt & Tax Dialogue on fair and efficient tax solutions on 3rd of September.

In person

3 December 2024 – 10:00

•

Timezone: America/New_York

United Nations Headquarters, East 45th Street, New York, NY, USA
The ICTD will be hosting a side event at the Second Preparatory Committee Session of the Financing for Development Conference.

Completed

Survey of Taxpayers in Eswatini: Compliance Costs, Digital Services, and Attitudes towards Compliance

Start date: 01/01/2026

Completed

The interpersonal side of tax compliance: interactions between taxpayers and tax officials in Rwanda

Current

Gender and Tax Compliance

Start date: 10/05/2023

Completed

Tax Compliance Costs: Uganda

Start date: 23/02/2023

Current

Women in Ethiopian Tax Administrations: Evidence on representation and performance

Start date: 10/02/2022

Completed

What is the distributional impact of the income and consumption tax reforms in Liberia?

Start date: 19/09/2023

Completed

An Introduction to Digital Tax Payment Systems in Low-and Middle-Income Countries

Start date: 08/08/2023

Completed

Digital financial services and digital IDs: What potential do they have for better taxation in Africa?

Start date: 08/12/2021

Completed

Mobile money and quality of tax administration and tax policy in developing countries

Start date: 16/08/2023

Completed

Assessing the impact of e-filing and e-payment in Senegal

Start date: 15/08/2023

Current

Taxation of High Net Worth Individuals in Sierra Leone

Start date: 14/06/2021

Completed

Block management system and formalisation: An ethnography and evaluation of the registration process in Freetown

Start date: 29/11/2021
Alex Kombat
View bio
Research Affiliate
Hannelore Niesten
View bio
Associate Postdoctoral Fellow
Jalia Kangave
View bio
Associate Research Fellow
Lucia Rossel
View bio
Research Affiliate
Mick Moore
View bio
Research Fellow & Publications Editor
Moyo Arewa
View bio
Programme Director, LoGRI
Ronald Waiswa
View bio
Research Affiliate
Samuel Jibao
View bio
Research Affiliate
Wilson Prichard
View bio
Associate Research Fellow, ICTD and Chair, LoGRI

Sign up to our Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest articles, publications, events and more.