Eduardo Almeida Mota

A Proposal for a Taxpayer Rating System to Improve Tax Compliance

ABSTRACT

The world is experiencing a peculiar moment in relation to the currently social contract. The public structure is being questioned and secular paradigms has been reconsidering in general. The social inclusion promoted by social networks has raised the demand for high quality in public services. One of the main reasons for this situation is the lack of confidence in public institutions generated by some unethical behavior, as corruption, or even by the inefficiency of public sectors. This inefficiency influences the indices of nations’ competitiveness negatively. It is necessary to establish a new relationship between citizen and authorities, moreover, to establish a new justification for the existence of public structures. This work examines the problem exclusively from the tax administrations’ point of view. It proposes a segmentation and classification of taxpayers according to their behavior when paying taxes. The methodology used was based on a qualitative approach. The analysis indicated that, despite the worldwide appeal for improvement in tax systems, there are few simple and objective mechanisms to encourage compliance. Although this work addresses new forms of state performance, in-depth studies are needed on other specific structuring points such as tax whistleblower, certification of accountant professionals, compliance, risk analysis, and governance in tax administrations. As final considerations, this study presents possible topics for future researches.

Keywords: Tax Compliance; Taxpayers Rating; Tax Administration.

Eduardo Almeida Mota is the Chief Officer of the Intelligence Division of the São Paulo State Treasury Department. He has almost twenty years of full-time work experience as State Government Employee with substantial understanding of Brazilian Law and Tax System, both legal and administrative. He had completed two Graduate Schools, Tax Law, and Public Law, and has a Bachelor of Arts in Law degree and has a proven track record in senior managerial positions, which required interpersonal relationship, leadership, analytical and quantitative skills and critical thinking.