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Articles 1 - 22 of 22
Full-Text Articles in Taxation
Diagnostic Report On Undeclared Work In Albania: Preliminary Report, Colin C. Williams
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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 …
Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Sector Entrepreneurship: A Study Of The Determinants Of Cross-Country Variations In Enterprises Starting-Up Unregistered, Colin C. Williams
Evaluating Competing Theories Of Informal Sector Entrepreneurship: A Study Of The Determinants Of Cross-Country Variations In Enterprises Starting-Up Unregistered, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
To advance understanding of the reasons for informal sector entrepreneurship, this article evaluates the determinants of
cross-country variations in the extent to which enterprises are unregistered when they start operating. Reporting the
World Bank Enterprise Survey data on 67,515 enterprises across 142 countries, the finding is that one in five (19.9%) of
the formal enterprises surveyed started-up unregistered, although this varies from all enterprises surveyed in some
countries (e.g. Pakistan) to 1% of surveyed enterprises in Slovakia. To explain these cross-country variations, four
competing theories are evaluated which variously assert that nonregistration is determined by either: economic
under-development and poorer …
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns, Colin C. Williams
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
1. Introduction
The aim of this study is to review the range of preventative approaches for tackling undeclared work available to Member States, and to focus upon two types of preventative measure, namely service vouchers and the use of awareness raising campaigns.
2. Rationales for a preventative approach
· The rationale for a preventative approach is to shift away from resolving problems after they have occurred towards preventing non-compliance in the first place.
· Article 1 of Decision (EU) 2016/3441, establishing the Platform, explicitly encourages such a preventative approach. It states that ‘”tackling”, in relation to undeclared work, means preventing, …
Assessment Limits And Timing Of Real Estate Transactions, Sebastien J. Bradley
Assessment Limits And Timing Of Real Estate Transactions, Sebastien J. Bradley
Sebastien J Bradley
Michigan homebuyers face large potential discontinuities in property tax obligations for purchases made around January 1 and May 1 under the state's application of acquisition-value based assessment limits and principal residence (homestead) exemptions, respectively. Consistent with incentives, roughly 3.7 percent of sales concluded in the first 10 business days of January are thus attributable to timing responses among the subset of properties listed by the largest 25 percent of firms by sales volume. Underlying this effect is a willingness to stretch the number of days between contract and closing dates by an average of 2 to 4 business days per …
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns: Outputs From Plenary Discussion Of The European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The fourth Plenary meeting of the European Platform Tackling Undeclared Work was held in Brussels on 8-9 March 2018. The first day of this meeting was dedicated to the topic of the preventative approach towards tackling undeclared work, with a focus upon service vouchers and awareness raising. This report summarises the discussions at the meeting, drawing also on the forthcoming study on this topic which has been developed as part of the Platform’s work programme
2018 European Platform Undeclared Work Survey Report: Obstacles To Tackling Undeclared Work At The Cross-Border And National Levels, Bilateral And National Agreements, And Complaint Reporting Tools, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Responses were received from 45 authorities with responsibilities for tackling undeclared work in 25 Member States (MS), most of whom were labour inspectorates or Ministries of Labour. The issues covered: obstacles to tackling undeclared work at the cross-border and national levels; the use of bilateral and multilateral agreements, and the use of complaint reporting tools in Member States
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns - Input Paper To Thematic Discussion, Colin C. Williams
Elements Of A Preventative Approach Towards Undeclared Work: An Evaluation Of Service Vouchers And Awareness Raising Campaigns - Input Paper To Thematic Discussion, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The objective of the thematic discussion on preventative measures for tackling undeclared work, focusing on both service vouchers and awareness raising campaigns, is (i) to exchange information on what works and what does not, (ii) to generate knowledge about these preventative measures, and (iii) to explore how the Platform activities can contribute to developing a preventative approach towards undeclared work.
This thematic discussion will focus attention on three key issues. In Part 1, we will address an issue everyone is aware of but until now has not been discussed, namely why preventative measures are not commonly used in Member States …
Explaining Cross-Country Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Competitors: Lessons From The World Bank Enterprise Survey, Colin C. Williams
Explaining Cross-Country Variations In The Prevalence Of Informal Sector Competitors: Lessons From The World Bank Enterprise Survey, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
To advance understanding of informal sector entrepreneurship, the aim of this
paper is to evaluate and explain the cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal
sector competitors. To do so, World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) data is reported
from 142 countries. This reveals that 27% of formal enterprises view competition from the
informal sector as a major constraint on their operations, although this varies from 72%of
formal enterprises in Chad to no formal enterprises in El Salvador. To explain these crosscountry
variations, four competing theories are evaluated which variously view informal
sector entrepreneurship and enterprise to bemore prevalent when there …
Starting-Up Unregistered And Firm Performance In Turkey, Colin C. Williams
Starting-Up Unregistered And Firm Performance In Turkey, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Recent years have seen a questioning of the negative representation of
informal sector entrepreneurship and an emergent view that it may offer significant
benefits. This paper advances this rethinking by evaluating the relationship between
business registration and future firm performance. Until now, the assumption has been
that starting-up unregistered is linked to weaker firm performance. Using World Bank
Enterprise Survey data on 2494 formal enterprises in Turkey, and controlling for other
determinants of firm performance as well as the endogeneity of the registration
decision, the finding is that formal enterprises that started-up unregistered and spent
longer unregistered have significantly higher …
Tackling Salary Under-Reporting In Croatia: Evidence From Employer And Employee Surveys, Colin C. Williams
Tackling Salary Under-Reporting In Croatia: Evidence From Employer And Employee Surveys, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
The aim of this paper is to evaluate how to tackle the illegal wage practice where formal
employers pay their formal employees an undeclared (envelope) wage in addition to their
official declared salary, which reduces the tax and social contributions paid to the authorities.
Until now, two competing policy approaches have been advocated, namely a conventional
rational economic actor approach which seeks to increase the perceived or actual penalties
and probability of being caught, and an emergent social actor approach that seeks to improve
tax morale. Reporting two nationally representative surveys of employers and employees
conducted in 2015 in Croatia, …
Do Deterrents Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Rational Economic Actor Approach, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams
Do Deterrents Prevent Undeclared Work? An Evaluation Of The Rational Economic Actor Approach, Ioana Horodnic, Colin C. Williams
Colin C Williams
Across the member states of the European Union and beyond, paid transactions occur that are not declared to the state for tax, social security and/or labour law purposes when they should be declared. This is not a minority practice. The undeclared economy is estimated to be equivalent to 17.9 per cent of the EU28 GDP in 2016. Similarly, it is estimated that 9.3 per cent of total labour input in the private sector in the EU28 is undeclared and that undeclared work constitutes on average 14.3 per cent of gross value added in the private sector. Furthermore, in 2013, 4 …
Investor Valuations Of Japan's Adoption Of A Territorial Tax Regime: Quantifying The Direct And Competitive Effects Of International Tax Reform, Sebastien J. Bradley, Estelle Dauchy, Makoto Hasegawa
Investor Valuations Of Japan's Adoption Of A Territorial Tax Regime: Quantifying The Direct And Competitive Effects Of International Tax Reform, Sebastien J. Bradley, Estelle Dauchy, Makoto Hasegawa
Sebastien J Bradley
Despite an extensive literature on the normative implications of different international tax regimes and an empirical literature addressing individual specific predictions, there exists little evidence encompassing the broad range of effects of taxing corporations' foreign-source income on a worldwide or territorial basis. This paper takes a more comprehensive quantitative approach by examining stock market reactions surrounding four events over the course of which Japan's 2009 adoption of a dividend exemption system was developed into proposed law. Using an event study methodology which leverages individual firm characteristics and accounts for contemporaneous financial market developments, we find that Japanese firms with less …