The Factors Affecting Corporate Income Tax Non-Compliance: A Case Study in Vietnam

In many countries, the Government enacts tax laws in order to manage tax collection and regulate the macro-economy. According to Noor, Jamaludin, Omar, and Aziz (2013), tax non-compliance is a growing concern because of its negative effects on the state budget. The main objectives of this article are to identify the factors affecting corporate income tax non-compliance of enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City in accordance with the current situation of Vietnamese tax administration. We use several research methods, including the exploitation of information and practical experiences from both taxpayers and tax authorities; with Probit regression model on a sample of 187 enterprises that have been inspected or examined by tax authorities in Vietnam during the period from 2013 to 2017.The article identified eight factors affecting corporate income tax (CIT) non-compliance: (1) working capital/total assets; (2) revenue/total assets; (3) total debt/total assets; (4) loss in the previous year; (5) receivables/revenue; (6) the size of enterprises; (7) tax administrative penalties/tax payable; and (8) business field. In particular, the tax non-compliance was studied as a violation of Vietnamese tax laws by enterprises declaring an insufficient amount of CIT payable to the State budget.