Limits to third-party reporting: Evidence from a randomized field experiment in Norway

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bjorneby, Marie; Alstadsaeter, Annette; Telle, Kjetil
• 署名单位: Norwegian University of Life Sciences; Statistics Norway
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2021.104512
• 发表日期: 2021
• 关键词: Collaborative tax evasion; Collusive tax evasion; Random audits; Undeclared work; Third-party reporting

摘要

Third-party reporting and employers' tax withholding are powerful compliance mechanisms, as long as the employer and employee do not collude to evade. In cooperation with the Norwegian Tax Administration we designed a randomized field experiment with unannounced on-site audits. Matching audit data to administrative registers, we provide evidence of collusive tax evasion. We find that firms assigned to be audited increased their subsequent wage reporting on behalf of their employees by 18 percent relative to firms assigned to the control group. The effect is more pronounced among small firms with few employees. Our results document limitations of third-party reporting, but also that these limitations can be counteracted by minor on-site audits. (c) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.