Complexity, compliance and tax collection

Abstract

This paper aims to present the cost of tax compliance in Brazilian states and to examine whether tax complexity affects compliance costs and whether they affect collection. The results show that: (a) companies from all Brazilian states incur an ICMS compliance cost, considering tax employees alone, at an average of 1.5% of the ICMS; and (b) that greater tax complexity leads to higher compliance costs, which lead to an increase in tax collection. This means that increasing tax complexity can make the economic system less efficient and competitive, as the increase in the complexity of legislation must be accompanied by taxpayer enforcement to incur additional costs in order to increase collection. This paper contributes to the debate about tax simplification and its economic effects as well as to the literature on compliance costs.

Keywords:
Tax complexity; Tax compliance; Tax collection; Compliance cost