Tax compliance costs: Research methodology and empirical evidence from Australia

The issue of tax compliance costs continues to attract public attention thr oughout the OECD. This is particularly true in Australia, where major tax r eforms are taking place. This paper reports on an ongoing research project on federal tax compliance costs conducted by a research team from the Austr alian Taxation Studies Program (ATAX) of the University of New South Wales. The focus of this paper is on the methodology of estimating taxation compl iance costs. Some aggregate empirical findings, based on several large-scal e mail surveys of over 10,000 personal and business taxpayers, will be repo rted. Major differences between the Australian and U.S. tax systems, as wel l as comparison with results obtained in previous UK and U.S. studies, will also be highlighted.