Individual vs social benefits from being a "good behaved" consumer: The case of electronic invoices

Last registered on March 19, 2024
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Individual vs social benefits from being a "good behaved" consumer: The case of electronic invoices
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0013162
Initial registration date
March 12, 2024

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
March 19, 2024, 5:07 PM EDT

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

Locations

Country
Colombia
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Luis Fernando Gamboa
Affiliation
DIAN
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Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Luis Carlos Reyes
PI Affiliation
Dian
Contact Investigator
PI Name
Alejandro Montoya
PI Affiliation
Dian
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Additional Trial Information

Status
Completed
Start date
2024-02-26
End date
2024-03-01
Keywords
Behavior, Other
Additional Keywords
tax compliance, consumer behavior
JEL code(s)
C20, C93, H26, H49
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
In the invoicing process of economic transactions there may be collusion between seller and buyer when there are apparently beneficial incentives for both parties to under-report invoices. The growth of electronic invoicing is one mechanism to combat this phenomenon, which may be more common in countries where informal cash transactions are more frequent. The purpose of this trial is twofold. On one hand, we pretend to assess the importance of perceiving direct or indirect benefits from asking for electronic invoices. On the other hand, we would like to assess the importance attributed to the allocation of revenues to specific items of public spending. The intervention consists of sending emails to several groups of taxpayers.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Gamboa, Luis Fernando, Alejandro Montoya and Luis Carlos Reyes. 2024. "Individual vs social benefits from being a "good behaved" consumer: The case of electronic invoices." AEA RCT Registry. March 19. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.13162-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
The trial consists of sending emails to 6 groups of randomly selected taxpayers with different information about the benefits form asking for electronic invoice or the alternative uses of this revenues in terms of public spending. There are two treatments focused on individual benefits (with different degree of certainty) and three aditional treatments in which she is informed to the taxpayers about different types of public spending.


Intervention Start Date
2024-02-26
Intervention End Date
2024-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
Tax compliance
Primary Outcomes (explanation)

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Randomization
The trial includes 6 different groups (1 control group and 5 treatments.) that we have obtained from a stratified sampling method that uses gross income from the last taxable year as a variable for the strata.
The treatment
The intervention is based on the behavioural response to the reception of informative communications sent by the Tax authority through email. The first subset of treatments includes two different messages that differ in the information about obtaining a fiscal deduction from the income tax report or the likellihood of winning a cash prize derived from asking the electronic invoice.
The second subset of treatments includes a brief information related to some feasible allocations of the income revenues obtained from electronic invoices. Each allocation mentioned includes a couple of public spending alternatve
Experimental Design Details
Randomization Method
randomization done in office by a computer
Randomization Unit
taxpayers
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
The sample includes about 93,000 taxpayers. Therefore, each one of the 6 groups (5 treatments and control) includes 15,500 emails approximately.
Sample size: planned number of observations
The total number of individuals is about 93,000. Therefore, each one of the 6 groups (5 treatments and control) includes 15,500 emails approximately.
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
The total number of individuals is about 93,000. Therefore, each one of the 6 groups (5 treatments and control) includes 15,500 emails approximately.
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan

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