E-invoicing, tax audits and VAT compliance

Difficult to find another policy shift that has promised as much for tax compliance in developing countries as digitalization. Yet the evidence on its impact is scant. Using the universe of tax filings in Rwanda over the period 2012-2019, this paper investigates the extent to which digitalization (i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Kotsogiannis, Christos|||0000-0002-1081-4046, Salvadori, Luca|||0000-0001-7610-439X, Karangwa, John, Murasi, Innocente
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:303432
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/303432
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.jdeveco.2024.103403
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Tax audit evaluation
Technological change
Digitalization initiatives
Tax administration
Tax evasion
Tax compliance
SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
SDG 1 - No Poverty
SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
SDG 4 - Quality Education
SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
Descripción
Sumario:Difficult to find another policy shift that has promised as much for tax compliance in developing countries as digitalization. Yet the evidence on its impact is scant. Using the universe of tax filings in Rwanda over the period 2012-2019, this paper investigates the extent to which digitalization (in the form of e-invoicing) has impacted on VAT compliance and in particular the effectiveness of tax audits. The evidence suggests that on the aggregate e-invoicing adoption has increased firms' net VAT payments and has improved the efficiency of VAT audits. It is also shown that e-invoicing has a sizeable impact on VAT liabilities reported by audited firms, with this impact being attributed to tax audits being more efficient rather than to VAT registered firms becoming more compliant following their adoption of e-invoicing.