Making it less taxing: Using planning prompts to improve tax compliance amongst businesses

Last registered on May 09, 2017

Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Making it less taxing: Using planning prompts to improve tax compliance amongst businesses
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0002209
Initial registration date
May 08, 2017

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
May 09, 2017, 11:37 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Region

Primary Investigator

Affiliation
Harvard University

Other Primary Investigator(s)

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2017-04-27
End date
2017-09-30
Secondary IDs
Abstract
The Deferred GST scheme allows businesses to defer the payment of GST on taxable imports which is beneficial for their cash flows. In order to remain on the scheme businesses must continue to meet all of their tax obligations. This includes lodging a monthly activity statement and being up to date on any payments due to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). At any given time, a proportion of businesses on the scheme are non-compliant. Addressing this non-compliance creates additional work for the ATO and leads to higher levels of outstanding tax debt.

This trial will test the effectiveness of a planning prompt email sent to new businesses registering with the scheme reminding them that they will need to stay up to date with their tax obligations each month. A successful intervention could increase business compliance and bring forward business tax payments.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Hiscox, Michael. 2017. "Making it less taxing: Using planning prompts to improve tax compliance amongst businesses ." AEA RCT Registry. May 09. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.2209-1.0
Former Citation
Hiscox, Michael. 2017. "Making it less taxing: Using planning prompts to improve tax compliance amongst businesses ." AEA RCT Registry. May 09. https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/2209/history/17464
Sponsors & Partners

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Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
Businesses in the treatment groups will receive a welcome email using simplification, salience and planning prompts
Intervention Start Date
2017-04-27
Intervention End Date
2017-09-30

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Primary: (1) Proportion of businesses that become compliant (2) Payments made to tax office
Secondary: (1) Level of interaction (phone calls) with tax office (2) Changes in client account balances
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Businesses will be randomly allocated to treatment and control groups.
Experimental Design Details
Businesses will be randomly allocated to treatment and control groups. This will include businesses that are completely new to the scheme and those that are reapplying to join.
Randomization Method
Businesses will be randomly allocated to treatment and control groups based on their Australian Business Number (ABN).
Randomization Unit
Individual businesses
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
N/A
Sample size: planned number of observations
At least 300 businesses
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
Minimum of 150 in treatment and control groups
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
For the outcome measure of proportion of businesses that remain compliant, assuming an initial compliance rate of 75 percent, alpha = 0.05 and power = 0.8 the study is powered to detect a 12.5 percentage point increase in compliance.
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
BETA Ethics Committee
IRB Approval Date
2017-02-22
IRB Approval Number
BETA ETH 2017-009
Analysis Plan

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Post-Trial

Post Trial Information

Study Withdrawal

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Intervention

Is the intervention completed?
No
Data Collection Complete
Data Publication

Data Publication

Is public data available?
No

Program Files

Program Files
Reports, Papers & Other Materials

Relevant Paper(s)

Reports & Other Materials