| Abstract: |
Voluntary compliance is the backbone of any personal income tax system, and India's reliance on it has grown as the base of filers has widened under digital administration. This study examines how knowledge of tax rules, perceived fairness, tax morale, perceived detection probability, perceived complexity and satisfaction with electronic filing shape the compliance behaviour of individual taxpayers in India. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 420 individual taxpayers drawn from salaried, business and professional, and other income groups, using a structured five-point Likert questionnaire whose scales showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha between 0.79 and 0.88). Data were analysed with descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression and one-way analysis of variance. Respondents reported moderately high compliance (mean 3.83 out of 5). Tax morale showed the strongest association with compliance (r = 0.58) and the largest standardised coefficient (β = 0.34), followed by tax knowledge, e-filing satisfaction and perceived fairness, while perceived complexity reduced compliance. The six predictors jointly explained 52 per cent of its variance. Salaried taxpayers, whose income is reported through deduction at source, complied significantly more than business and professional respondents (F = 22.7, p < 0.001), and compliance rose steadily across income bands. The results suggest that enforcement alone is an incomplete explanation of behaviour in India; attitudes, understanding and the quality of the filing experience matter at least as much. Simplified procedures, taxpayer education and visible, fair use of revenue are likely to yield more durable compliance than additional penalties. Self-reported data limit causal inference. |
