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

8 February 2022 – 14:00

•

Timezone: Europe/London

Watch the event recording here. On February 8th, the ICTD’s Research Director Dr Giulia Mascagni will be speaking as a panellist at an event focusing on taxpayer education. Read her paper on the role of taxpayer education in Africa, on

Virtual

1 February 2022 – 14:00

•

Timezone: Europe/London

The ICTD’s Research Director Giulia Mascagni will be beginning this spring’s Tax for Development webinar series. This upcoming webinar, The Tax Side of the Pandemic: Compliance Shifts and Funding for Recovery in Rwanda, is the first of a series of

Virtual

13 December 2021 – 10:30

•

Timezone: America/New_York

What impact has the Covid-19 pandemic had on taxpayer perceptions and tax compliance in low-income countries? In this seminar hosted by the World Bank, the ICTD’s Research Director Dr. Giulia Mascagni will present results from new research in Rwanda. Recently

Virtual

2 December 2021 – 14:00

•

Timezone: Europe/London

A central aspect of institutional development in developing economies is building tax systems capable of raising revenues from broad tax bases; i.e., acquiring fiscal capacity. Improved fiscal capacity allows countries to generate much-needed resources for the provision of public goods

Current

Investigating the Inclusion of Welfare Issues in the IMF’s Tax Policy Agenda: A Quantitative Analysis of Article IV Consultation Reports

Start date: 01/08/2025

Current

Extent and Distributional Implications of Non-Compliance with Local and National Taxes among Firms in Kampala, Uganda

Start date: 01/07/2022

Current

The Politics of Tax Reform in Pakistan

Start date: 05/01/2026

Current

Tracking Tax Compliance: Evaluating Pakistan’s Track and Trace System

Start date: 01/09/2025

Current

Navigating Tax Compliance in Pakistan: The Role of Heuristics in Self-Reporting Systems

Start date: 10/02/2025

Current

One-stop Shops as Intermediaries Between Digital States and Non-digital Populations

Start date: 11/11/2025

Current

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Experimental evidence of tax advice in Rwanda

Start date: 02/12/2024

Current

Collection Cost and Revenue: Evaluating the Cost-Effectiveness of Administration of the Tax Stamp in Ghana

Start date: 01/10/2024

Current

The Politics and Practice of Tax Targets

Start date: 10/07/2024

Current

Tax Officials and Tax Compliance: Attitudes to Enforcement and Implications on Taxpayer Compliance

Start date: 01/01/2022

Current

What Impacts Do Tax Agents Have on Taxpayer Compliance in Uganda? Evidence from eTax – Phase 2

Start date: 01/08/2026

Current

Artificial Intelligence for Smarter Tax Administration: Opportunities, Limits, and Evidence from Zambia – Phase 1

Start date: 01/01/2026
Alex Kombat
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Research Affiliate
Hannelore Niesten
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Associate Postdoctoral Fellow
Jalia Kangave
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Associate Research Fellow
Lucia Rossel
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Research Affiliate
Mick Moore
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Research Fellow & Publications Editor
Moyo Arewa
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Programme Director, LoGRI
Ronald Waiswa
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Research Affiliate
Samuel Jibao
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Research Affiliate
Wilson Prichard
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Associate Research Fellow, ICTD and Chair, LoGRI

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