The Challenges of Corporate Taxation in Iran: The Case of Construction Companies in the Province of Kurdistan

Abstract

The present paper attempts to investigate the challenges of taxation in Iran based on the tax behavior of construction companies in Kurdistan Province. From a 165 questionnaires, Scheffe and Friedman tests were applied to test the following research hypotheses: Efficiency of tax laws, the role of tax experts in filing correct tax reports, the extent to which willing or unwilling tax noncompliance is detectable, and the effectiveness of penalties considering the case of construction companies. The evidence rejects tax law efficiency as well as the efficiency of the penalty-reward system and confirms the negative impact of tax noncompliance on tax revenue. Also, interestingly enough, neither the input of financial expertise in filling out tax reports nor the role of accounting information when taxable income is reported is shown to be statistically significant. Altogether these results point to a highly problematic tax regime in Iran at least in so far as corporate tax from construction companies in Iranian Kurdistan is concerned.

Keywords: Iran, tax laws, tax culture, accounting information

JEL Classification: H25, K34, M40