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The purpose of this study was to establish whether tax compliance intentions of tax-registered selfemployed persons are still influenced by economic variables instead of non-economic variables which are now at the centre stage in tax compliance research. A quantitative research design based on a survey of 453 self-employed persons randomly selected from 15 Small Taxpayers' Offices across the Greater Accra region was used. Data was analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 software complemented with a correlation analysis and validated using multiple regression and one-way analysis of variance. Results indicate that if the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) conducts frequent audits on business records and activities, and imposes lower tax rates on self-employed persons, a moderate but positive effect on tax compliance could be achieved. The results also indicate that higher fines could have a moderate negative effect on tax compliance decisions. Lastly, the level of income of self-employed persons was found to have weak but positive effects on their tax compliance intentions. The overarching results from this study indicate that economic variables do have positive but moderate effects on tax compliance intentions of self-employed persons in developing economies. It was recommend that the tax administration authority should not place too much emphasis on higher fines and imposition of higher income tax rates to encourage voluntary compliance, but instead, should place more emphasis on auditing of records and returns, and engage and provide holistic support to enable self-employed persons to grow and expand their businesses.

This study assessed the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on tax revenues and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) revenues in Ghana using qualitative and quantitative analysis. These impacts were analyzed using autoregressive tax regressions, buoyancy, and tax elasticity formulas. A simple radon sampling was used to select 350 SMEs in five major cities in Ghana. The findings point to "Demand" as a critical factor influencing SMEs sales and revenue with a rating of 5.3, a p-value less than the significance level of 0.05, and a deviation of 0.864, indicating the extent of the impact on tax revenue and sales of small and medium enterprises during a pandemic. In addition, a coefficient based on the ORL model application shows a value of 0.9565 in support of the econometric model used. The study also finds that tax revenue could drop by 8%, and VAT revenue could drop by 1% or more. A tax buoyancy of 0.1% or 100% in forecasting tax revenue could be observed depending on the severity and impact of the pandemic. The findings show that tax revenue in a pandemic is impacted adversely, which requires logical and coordinated approaches to improve tax compliance.

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The Global economy has seen a rapid growth in digital business transactions, especially in the provision and sale of goods and services through the application of information and communications technology. This rapid growth can be attributed to the fast rate of technological advancement which has changed how business transactions are conducted globally. The complexity associated with the taxation of digital business transaction has created the need to take a critical look at the challenges and prospects of digital business transactions in developing economies. The absence of physically commercial environment to a digital business environment generates thoughtful and significant issues in relation to taxation and taxation systems. This study relied on the second-best Tax Theory to establish that developing economies face the daunting task of taxing digital business transactions effectively due to the distortive nature of taxes on welfare losses. Whereas government and revenue collection authorities can impose tax on individuals, institutions and or products, they cannot tax digital business transactions efficiently and effectively and unless there are robust and effective tax systems in place. Even though these constraints appear more pronounced in developing economies, the implementation of effective tax could lead to an enhanced internal tax revenue for development.