“The Effectiveness of Thank You in Encouraging Tax Returns: Latest Research Findings”

The tax authorities wanted to know whether a thank you has an effect if citizens and companies file their returns on time and without errors. That’s important, because the more people do that, the better it is. Because a number sometimes says more than a thousand words: direct taxes for companies and citizens supplied the treasury 111.1 billion euros in 2021.

Tense relationship

And so the tax authorities are looking for ways to stimulate tax returns. This could be done, for example, by threatening people with checks or even fines. A disadvantage: this puts further pressure on the already tense relationship between government and citizens.

And so methods are being sought to gently ensure that tax morale remains in order. This could be done by emphasizing its importance for society. A moral appeal, as it were, to citizens and companies to act in the public interest. Previous research has shown that attempts to do this are not very effective.

What would happen if we sent everyone a thank you, people then wondered. The effect of such a brilliant gesture had not yet been studied. And that has now happened.

Chance of control

Unfortunately. It probably won’t do anything according to recent research. People were given four tasks to do. They were also paid four times for this and they could indicate separately for each income how much tax they wanted to pay on it.

During that process, some of the participants were thanked in advance, others afterwards. And yet another part was not thanked at all. A thank you before or after had no effect, the researchers report.

At the end, the participants were asked how high the probability that their declaration would be checked. And the latter does offer opportunities for the tax authorities to raise tax morale.

The higher the expected chance of being checked, the more dutifully people had completed the declaration. Lucky for the treasury: the probability of being caught in fraud is estimated to be quite high. At least by companies, it turns out from the Fiscal Monitor 2022 of the tax authorities.

Personal approach

It could well be that a thank you works if it comes from person to person, but not between citizens and a large organization such as the tax authorities, the researchers conclude. This could also be because there is already a tacit agreement between the two parties that tax returns are simply part of it, the researchers philosophize. Whether a personal thank you or other reward might have an effect should be investigated again, they recommend.

Anyway, thanks for reading for now.