2019 Annual Platform Survey: Tackling Undeclared In The Collaborative Economy And Bogus Self-Employment, Data Exchange And Data Protection, And Cross-Border Sanctions, Colin C. Williams
Oct 2019
2019 Annual Platform Survey: Tackling Undeclared In The Collaborative Economy And Bogus Self-Employment, Data Exchange And Data Protection, And Cross-Border Sanctions, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This survey collected information from EU Member States, as well as Iceland and Norway, on three issues:
Tackling undeclared work in the collaborative economy and bogus self-employment.
Data exchange and data protection.
Cross-border sanctions.
Of the 28 Platform members from EU Member States as well as Iceland and Norway, 28 out of 30 responses were received. In addition, the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) provided qualitative feedback on the role of social partners and their cooperation with enforcement authorities to tackle undeclared work in the areas covered by the survey.
How To Reduce The Tax Bill Of A Multinational Technology Company?, Dimitrios V. Siskos
Sep 2019
How To Reduce The Tax Bill Of A Multinational Technology Company?, Dimitrios V. Siskos
Dimitrios V. Siskos
It is said that nothing in this world is certain except for death and taxes. For those with clever accountants, however, the latter can be kept to a minimum. Particularly, companies seek to minimize their tax liability through "tax planning", adopting deductions, rebates, exemptions and other “legal” tools that the domestic tax system provides to them. However, while tax planning is considered to be quite logical in the terms of making profit, there is a grey area between this and "tax avoidance”. This paper suggests a legitimate tax plan for a multinational technology company that minimizes its tax obligations1, without …
Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union: Policy Report, Colin C. Williams
Aug 2019
Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union: Policy Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Undeclared work represents a persistent feature of contemporary economies and results in lost public revenue, lack of worker protection and unfair competition for legitimate businesses. Conventionally, undeclared work has been viewed as an individual criminal act, which is solved by governments increasing the penalties and risks of detection in order to discourage participation. This, however, only deals with the outcome (i.e., participation in undeclared work) and does not address the drivers of this behaviour.
This report explores the formal institutional failures which make undeclared work an acceptable behaviour in the eyes of citizens and, consequently, result in high participation in …
Tackling Undeclared Work Across Europe: Effective Solutions For Policy-Makers, Colin C. Williams
Jul 2019
Tackling Undeclared Work Across Europe: Effective Solutions For Policy-Makers, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This document sets out examples of proven approaches
and practices that Platform members and observers
have used to tackle undeclared work in Europe. The
aim is to inspire national policy-makers with tried and
tested approaches and to provide sources of further
information of how to put these concrete examples into
action.
Shadows: Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams
Jul 2019
Shadows: Tackling Undeclared Work In The European Union, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Across the member states of the European Union and beyond, paid transactions are occuring that are not declared to the state for tax, social security or labour law purposes. The practice is not a minority one. As a result, tackling undeclared work has become a core issue on the policy agendas of both governments and the European Commission, reflected in the establishment of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work.
How, therefore, can undeclared work be tackled? A review of the literature indicates two major distinct approaches. First, a rational economic actor approach that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the …
Future Role And Competence Profile Of Labour Inspectorates, Colin C. Williams
Jun 2019
Future Role And Competence Profile Of Labour Inspectorates, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The transformation of undeclared work into declared work using a combination of preventative and deterrence measures has significant implications for the future role of enforcement authorities1, and the skills and competencies required.
This thematic review workshop (TRW) will provide Platform members with an opportunity to engage in mutual learning and share understanding of the key human resource management issues for both inspectorates as well as inspectors. These issues arise from transforming undeclared work into declared work, the adoption of a wider range of deterrence and preventative approaches and achieving a good balance between deterrence and prevention. In addition, enforcement authorities …
Preventative Approaches To Tackle Undeclared Work, With A Focus Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams
Jun 2019
Preventative Approaches To Tackle Undeclared Work, With A Focus Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
No abstract provided.
Preventative Approaches For Tackling Undeclared Work, Focusing Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Learning Resource Paper For The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams
May 2019
Preventative Approaches For Tackling Undeclared Work, Focusing Upon Tax Rebates And Notification Letters: Learning Resource Paper For The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Effective preventative approaches are long-term, tailored strategies. Over time, they can trigger behavioural change to declare work and increase trust in institutions. Preventative strategies should combine a range of measures and must be regularly tested, evaluated and adapted according to the results. Pilot schemes can be used to find effective ways to tailor approaches to the national context and culture. However, preventative approaches and deterrence approaches are complementary. Both can be used to tackle undeclared work.
Moving towards preventative measures requires a change of strategy of the role of enforcement institutions. A preventative approach requires support of all …
Shadow Economy: Definitions, Terms And Theoretical Considerations, Colin C. Williams
May 2019
Shadow Economy: Definitions, Terms And Theoretical Considerations, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The last decades, many scholars highlighted the shadow economic activities, regarding their disadvantages (unemployment, impoverishment etc) and advantages (intensifies competition, flexibility in employment etc). During the financial crisis, informal activities rose in noisy way, which triggered the development of special definitions to describe a wide range of actions which in turn have gradually configured and updated the content of the shadow economy term. In this paper we present the theoretical background of the shadow economy term, by selecting the main worldwide literature published from 1973 to 2018. Many studies have tried to definite the shadow economy term but none has …
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo, Colin C. Williams
Apr 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of undeclared work in Kosovo* followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled.
Ifth Plenary Meeting Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Report On Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Ifth Plenary Meeting Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work Report On Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The fifth Plenary meeting of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work was held in Brussels on 18-19 October 2018. The first day of this meeting was dedicated to the topic of tackling under-declared employment in the European Union. This report summarises the discussions at the workshop, which drew on the findings of two studies on this topic produced as part of the Platform’s work programme.
The objective of this thematic discussion on under-declared employment in the European Union was: (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about under-declared employment, and (iii) to …
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Executive Summary, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The Platform seminar provided participants with an opportunity to reflect on existing practices, tools and
approaches that deal with undeclared work in the agricultural sector in Europe. Discussions focused on methods
and tools for the prevention and deterrence of undeclared work in the agricultural sector and Platform members,
observers and social partners played an active and central role in the day.
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector: A Learning Resource, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector: A Learning Resource, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
On 24 January 2019, the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work organised a seminar in Brussels on Tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector, with a focus upon seasonal workers and horticulture. The seminar brought together Platform members or designated representatives from EU Member States (MS) representing labour inspectorates and social security, tax and customs authorities, and national and European social partner representatives from the agricultural sector. The intention was to provide participants with an opportunity to engage in mutual learning and exchange knowledge on how to tackle undeclared work in the agricultural sector and transform undeclared into declared work. Participants …
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Bosnia And Herzegovina: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Bosnia And Herzegovina: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The main objective of this study is to investigate undeclared employment in Bosnia and Herzegovina, its extent, character, potential determinants and current policy approach in tackling this problem. The study relies on the existing EU literature with similar focus, typical secondary data and two primary data sources gathered through a representative survey of BiH population and in-depth interviews with state officials working on undeclared employment. The study thus provides in-depth analysis of undeclared employment in BiH and as such it aims to serve as an underpinning tool which should help to identify new set of policies needed to improve the …
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Kosovo: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of undeclared work in Kosovo* followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Montenegro: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Mar 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Montenegro: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The Montenegrin labour market is characterized by low activity of the working age population, relatively high unemployment, particularly among the young, wide spread undeclared work and the lack of a sufficient number of new and quality jobs. Volume of undeclared work in Montenegro is significant, amounting to one third of total employment. The key purpose of this policy paper is to provide insight into the scope of the undeclared economy in Montenegro, to describe the policy measures implemented in order to tackle undeclared economy and their effectiveness. This involved both desk-based research and interviews with institutions involved in tackling the …
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Serbia: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Feb 2019
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Serbia: A Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of the undeclared economy in Serbia and is followed by a report that will provide recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled.
Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams
Jan 2019
Institutional Asymmetry And The Acceptability Of Undeclared Work: Synthesis Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This report is part of the project SHADOWSwhich aims to investigate the effectiveness of different policy measures in reducing undeclared work. As such, the project evaluates not only the effectiveness of using a rational economic actor approach (that tackles undeclared work by ensuring that the payoff from undeclared work is outweighed by the costs), and a social actor approach (grounded in a view that undeclared work arises when tax morale is low), but also analyses the interaction effects (between deterrents and tax morale, and vertical and horizontal trust) in various contexts. This report focuses on the social actor approach, …
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Background Paper For The European Platform On Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams
Jan 2019
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, With A Focus Upon Seasonal Workers And Horticulture: Background Paper For The European Platform On Tackling Undeclared Work Seminar, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This background paper briefly sets out the prevalence of undeclared work in the agricultural sector in the European Union and the approaches and tools available for tackling such work, with a focus upon horticulture and undeclared seasonal workers. The intention is to stimulate the thoughts of participants attending the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work seminar on “Tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector: with a focus upon seasonal workers and horticulture” (to be held in Brussels on January 24th 2019) on potential policy which could be adopted to transform undeclared work into declared work in the agricultural sector, especially with …
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Albania: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Dec 2018
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Albania: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of the undeclared economy in Albania. Based on desk-research and interviews with various stakeholders, this report sets the scene for a strategy and action plan for tackling undeclared work in Albania, presented in a separate document.
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia, Colin C. Williams
Dec 2018
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In The Former Yugoslav Republic Of Macedonia, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This diagnostic report evaluates the extent, nature and drivers of the undeclared economy in The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia followed by recommendations regarding how this sphere can be tackled
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, Colin C. Williams
Nov 2018
Tackling Undeclared Work In The Agricultural Sector, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This study evaluates the prevalence, distribution and characteristics of undeclared work in the agricultural, forestry and fishing sector (henceforth ‘agricultural sector’) in the EU and how this can be tackled. To do so, the prevalence, distribution and characteristics of undeclared work in the agricultural sector, along with its systemic drivers, are analysed. This analysis then provides the evidence base for an analysis of how undeclared work can be tackled. To identify how to achieve this, an analysis is undertaken of the legislative and institutional frameworks, of the policy approaches for tackling undeclared work in the agricultural sector, and an evidence-based …
Glossary Of Terms: European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Nov 2018
Glossary Of Terms: European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
This glossary is intended to provide a common understanding of the terminology that is used in the European Platform tackling undeclared work web pages, documents and publications. It does not provide official Platform definitions of the terms listed therein. Where possible, references are provided to the source of the understandings provided.
To facilitate understanding, the terms in the glossary are grouped together rather than presented as an A-Z list.
In the first section, the common understandings about undeclared work and its various sub-types are provided, followed by other related concepts and terms often used for activities related to undeclared work. …
Turning Vice Into Virtue: Institutional Work And Professional Misconduct, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington
Oct 2018
Turning Vice Into Virtue: Institutional Work And Professional Misconduct, Elisabeth Brooke Harrington
Brooke Harrington
Why do professionals engage in or aid misconduct, rather than rejecting it as a threat to their legitimacy and labor market survival? This paper contributes to the scholarly agenda by drawing on an ethnographic study of professionals who facilitate offshore tax avoidance for the ultra-wealthy. This form of expert advisory work has become highly controversial, and is increasingly classified as a form of professional wrongdoing. Building on theories of institutional work and categorization, the study theorizes practitioners’ responses to field-level legitimacy threats. Specifically, the paper models a process in which misconduct is re-categorized in terms of the core norms that …
Explaining And Tackling Under-Declared Employment In Fyr Macedonia: The Employers Perspective, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi
Oct 2018
Explaining And Tackling Under-Declared Employment In Fyr Macedonia: The Employers Perspective, Colin C. Williams, Slavko Bezeredi
Colin C Williams
The aim of this paper is to evaluate how employers who illegally under-report their employees’ salaries to
evade paying the full tax and social contributions owed can be explained and tackled. These employers have
been conventionally explained as rational economic actors doing so when the benefits outweigh the costs,
and thus the solution is to increase the sanctions and/or probability of detection. An alternative social actor
approach, however, explains employers as under-reporting salaries because of their lack of both vertical trust
(i.e., their beliefs are not in symmetry with the laws and regulations) and horizontal trust (i.e., they believe
many …
Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union: Input Paper To Thematic Discussion Of European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Oct 2018
Tackling Under-Declared Employment In The European Union: Input Paper To Thematic Discussion Of European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The under-declaration of work ranges from employers using unregistered employees, through the under-declaration of income by the formal self-employed and formal businesses, to the misuse of collaborative platforms and the digital economy to conceal the full amount of incomes and social security due.
The objective of this thematic discussion on under-declared employment in the European Union is: (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about under-declared employment, and (iii) to explore how the Platform activities can contribute to tackling under-declared employment.
The intention is to focus upon two types of under-declaring work: …
Evaluating Policy Approaches Towards Undeclared Work: Some Lessons From Fyr Of Macedonia, Colin C. Williams
Oct 2018
Evaluating Policy Approaches Towards Undeclared Work: Some Lessons From Fyr Of Macedonia, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
To tackle undeclared work, the conventional rational economic actor approach
uses deterrents to ensure that the costs of engaging in undeclared work outweigh
the benefits. Recent years have seen the emergence of a social actor approach
which focuses upon improving tax morale. To analyse the association between
participation in undeclared work and these policy approaches, 2,014 face-toface
interviews, conducted in FYROM in 2015, are reported. Logistic regression
analysis reveals no association between participation in undeclared work and the
perceived level of penalties and risk of detection, but there is an association with
the level of tax morale. The paper concludes …
Does Trust Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Social Actor Approach, Colin C. Williams
Aug 2018
Does Trust Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Social Actor Approach, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
In recent decades, a burgeoning literature has brought out of the shadows the magnitude of the undeclared economy. This reveals that the undeclared economy is a persistent feature of contemporary economies. With the equivalent of 17.9 per cent of GDP not declared to the authorities in the European Union in 2016 [1], undeclared work representing 14.3 per cent of gross value added in the private sector in 2013 [2] and 4 per cent of EU28 citizens conducting undeclared work [3], tackling the undeclared economy is not some minor issue. Addressing this practice is important. This is not only because of …
Evaluating Competing Perspectives Towards Undeclared Work: Some Lessons From Bulgaria, Colin C. Williams
Aug 2018
Evaluating Competing Perspectives Towards Undeclared Work: Some Lessons From Bulgaria, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
When explaining and tackling the undeclared economy in Central
and Eastern Europe, participants have been conventionally viewed
as rational economic actors. They engage in undeclared work
when the benefits outweigh the costs. Participation is thus
deterred by increasing the sanctions and/or probability of being
caught. Recently, however, an alternative social actor approach
has emerged which views participants as engaging in undeclared
work when their norms, values and beliefs (i.e. citizen morale) do
not align with laws and regulations (i.e. state morale). Here, therefore,
initiatives to develop greater symmetry between civic and
state morale are pursued. To evaluate the validity and …
Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective, Colin C. Williams
May 2018
Explaining Informal Sector Entrepreneurship In Kosovo: An Institutionalist Perspective, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Institutional theory has been widely used to explain entrepreneurship in the informal economy.
A first wave of institutionalist theory argued that informal entrepreneurship resulted from formal
institutional failures and a second wave that such entrepreneurship results from an asymmetry
between the laws and regulations of formal institutions and the unwritten socially shared rules of
informal institutions. This paper evaluates the validity of these two waves of institutionalist explanation
and a new third wave of institutional theory explaining informal entrepreneurship in terms
of a lack of both vertical and horizontal trust. Reporting data from a 2013 survey in Kosovo
involving 500 …
