UNDERSTANDING TAX MORALE AND TAX COMPLIANCE OF SMEs: A CASE OF TAX PRACTITIONER

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze tax morale and tax compliance among the small medium enterprise (SME) from the tax practitioners’ perspective. Tax morale is defined as the intrinsic motivation to pay taxes arising from the moral obligation to pay taxes or the belief in contributing to the society. To achieve these goals, high tax morale is required to achieve a high degree of tax compliance. The general objective of this study is to determine the level of tax morale and tax compliance of SME taxpayers. In addition, the study also investigates the effect of tax morale towards tax compliance and the significant relationship between tax morale and tax compliance among the SME taxpayers. 200 questionnaires were distributed to the tax practitioners that randomly selected in Kuala Lumpur. Descriptive and correlations analysis were used to analyze the data. The result shows that there are a number of significant relationships between tax morale and tax compliance. The study recommended that there is a need to provide strong taxpayers services from the tax authority and tax firms for understanding the tax policy and regulations in Malaysia.