Fraudulent financial reporting is a serious social problem that has spread worldwide. The consequences of it can be detrimental to many stakeholders. Thus, fraudulent financial reporting has to be prevented and combated. Fraudulent financial reporting involves human deviant behaviour. Thus, to prevent it from occurring, the root causes that relate to deviant human behaviour have to be identified. This paper tries to explain how the social behavioural theory, in particular the theory of reasoned action can be used to explain for fraudulent financial reporting behaviour
In view of the strong rumor that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) may be re-introduced in Malaysia, Bernama (2022) reported that Malaysia is keen on reintroducing GST to expand its revenue base and carry the weight of public subsidies. In fact, no country in the world has reverted from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the Sales and Services Tax (SST), except for Malaysia. Due to GST abolishment, Malaysia incurred an annual revenue loss of RM20 billion, and, surprisingly, the reintroduction of SST 2.0 did not contribute much to the government. Compared to the GST collection of RM41 billion in 2016 and RM44 billion in 2017, SST 2.0 only collected RM26.7 billion in 2020 and RM27.9 billion in 2021. Unfortunately, from the public's perspective, GST remains a very unpopular indirect tax reform due to its regressive nature, affecting both the poor and poor the rich. Since the tax applies to every transaction regardless of the socioeconomic status of individuals, it places an undue burden, especially on poor households. Similarly, the SST 2.0 also disappoints the public since it has the same features as SST 1.0, for instance, high tax evasion levels by businesses (Sanusi et al., 2015) and a cascading impact of sales tax whereby the tax incurred by manufacturers is re-taxed (tax-on-tax effect) to a certain extent at subsequent manufacturing process stages, thus increasing the prices of goods and services (Zhou et al., 2013). Besides, literature on the key catalyst of the public acceptance of Malaysian indirect tax also lacks discussions on a specific public acceptance model for indirect tax policy implementation. Since these unresolved problems could instigate another tragic rejection by the public and impact the government's revenue collection, this study, therefore, aims to bridge the gap by proposing an indirect tax acceptance model using the guiding principles of good tax policy recommended by AICPA (2017). Keywords: Goods and Services Tax (GST), Indirect Tax Policy, Good Tax Policy.
Since the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was highly politicized as a tax that oppresses lower-income groups, its abolishment became the new government's (Pakatan Harapan) promise in the election manifesto and, as a result, Malaysia is the only country that reverts from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) to the Sales and Services Tax (SST) (Wong & Kee, 2018). On the contrary, the Barisan Nasional camp defended the position of GST, claiming that Pakatan Harapan's SST is the actual burden to the citizens, as asserted by former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak (The Edge Malaysia Weekly, 2019). Notwithstanding these assertions, it is evident that both SST and GST are claimed to be regressive since they may impose a heavier burden on lower-income groups than higher-income groups (Narayanan, 2014), thus affecting the household consumption expenditures of these groups (Jamel et al., 2021). While managing the public acceptance of tax changes is rather complex, especially if the changes are deemed unfavorable with the possibility of undermining spending patterns following their implications on product rates, the public is also likely to resent the government's tax increment due to the burden imposed on them. Keywords: Indirect tax policy, tax burden, spending patterns, household consumption expenditures
From 1st September 2018, the reimplementation of the Sales and Service Tax (SST) was due to take effect replacing the Goods and Service Tax (GST). The nation opposed GST as they argued that it was an added burden to their already high living cost. As the government had to find an alternative source to collect tax revenue, the best solution will be implementing the Sales and Services Tax. In contrast to GST which was carried on a value-added concept, this new charge is only imposed at manufacturer stages. Therefore, the supply chain would result in higher charges, shifting from manufacturers to retailers and consumers. Although the Consumer Price Index (CPI) basket is taxable, it is just 38 per cent of the total products and services. According to the National Worry Index conducted by Emir Research Malaysia, most respondents believe that Sales and Services Tax failed to reduce the prices of goods and services. Hence, acceptance is vital to ensure the success of indirect tax. Therefore, the present study aims to examine tax authorities’ role and public acceptance of SST in Malaysia. Data from 180 people living in Klang Valley were collected through a survey. To examine calculation and structural models, the Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Model (PLS-SEM) approach was adopted. This study’s findings suggested that tax authorities’ effectiveness, namely, the Royal Malaysian Customs Department (RMCD) and the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumers Affairs (KPDNHEP), influenced public acceptance. Furthermore, the adoption of SST requires tax transparency and public confidence in the government. The understanding of the government, in particular, is a critical problem because, as an acknowledgement of the SST, it goes beyond the direct range of the taxation authorities. The public should perceive that tax authorities are effective, transparent, and trustworthy in executing indirect tax. Malaysians would be more accepting if the government declares the revenues from the tax obtained, as well as spending the tax income wisely on public amenities. These findings have important implications for the government to understand public acceptance in SST. Transparency will enhance public confidence in the government. Malaysians have to perceive that the Malaysian tax authorities are useful and the tax must be transparent to give their full trust to the government.
The intense development in the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR 4.0) demands tight governance of tax audit enforcement by the Inland Revenue Board Malaysia (IRBM) on firms claiming automation incentive. Through tax audit enforcement, IRBM provides a monitoring mechanism for corporate governance. However, due to data confidentiality, little has been established on what indicators that caused tax authority to carry out tax audits. In this research, we employed tax return and historical audit data of corporate taxpayers consisting of profitable and loss firms which consistently claim the Reinvestment Allowance (RA) to examine the indicators applied by the tax authority in executing the role of governance. Employing Binary logistic regression, firm characteristic of firms experiencing tax audit was observable, but tax avoidance and incentive utilization indicators were not apparent. Tax avoidance indicators such as effective tax rate and book-tax difference, loss firms, and incentive utilization receive less attention when it comes to tax audit enforcement. Examining firms that experienced tax audit enforcement has enriched our understanding of indicators that draw the interest of tax authorities when it comes to tax audits. Overall, this research could be the first in Malaysia that has used actual historical tax audit record, which has revealed new evidence on the indicators preferred by the IRBM in conducting a tax audit. The slight fine-tuning of the responses, especially on tax avoidance and incentive utilization indicators for tax enforcement might produce comprehensive tax audit coverage and yield a greater mechanism for governance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.