Misperceptions About Tax Audits

Bergolo, Marcelo; Ceni, Rodrigo; Cruces, Guillermo; Giaccobasso, Matias; Perez-Truglia, Ricardo

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3109034

Misperceptions About Tax Audits

6 Pages Posted: 1 Feb 2018

See all articles by Marcelo Bergolo

Marcelo Bergolo

Universidad de la Republica - Instituto de Economía; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Guillermo Cruces

Universidad Nacional de La Plata - Centro de Estudios Distributivos, Laborales y Sociales (CEDLAS); IZA

Matias Giaccobasso

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Anderson School of Management; Universidad de la Republica - Instituto de Economía

Ricardo Perez-Truglia

University of California, Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: January 24, 2018

Abstract

For some entities, the utility-maximizing evasion rate depends substantially on tax audit features, such as audit probabilities and penalty rates. Bergolo et al. (2017) document large misperceptions about these features. In this paper, we expand the analysis of survey data to explore potential sources of these misperceptions. Of all the channels that we explore, recent contact with audits best explains differences in misperceptions.

Keywords: tax, evasion, audits, penalties

JEL Classification: C93, H26, K34, K42, Z13

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Bergolo, Marcelo and Ceni, Rodrigo and Cruces, Guillermo and Giaccobasso, Matias and Perez-Truglia, Ricardo, Misperceptions About Tax Audits (January 24, 2018). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3109034 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3109034