The determinants of behavioral acceptance for tax e-filing among tax preparers in Malaysia

Are we ready to fully transform manual application to electronic engagement in achieving Vision 2020? At the last phase of the e-government development, despite the huge investment put forward, the behavioral intention acceptability is in doubt and has not fully achieved the target. How far this opportunity has been taken by Malaysians is the main concern of this research. In taxation, specifically in corporate tax e-filing, acceptability seems to be low/unsatisfactory as reported by the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM). The percentage of engagement is unsatisfied even after 10 years of tax e-filing implementation. Thus, the situation of the technology of tax e-filing being underutilized, despite the evolution requires some explanations. This indirectly could possibly risk the achievement of the government transformation programs. In seeking imperative answers, this research is designed for the following objectives: (1) to determine the level of acceptance of tax e-filing among Malaysian tax agents/preparers, (2) to identify the determinants of tax e-filing acceptability and (3) to examine how the factors identified in (2) are related to tax e-filing acceptability. The results of this research were obtained via simple random sampling from 213 respondents by using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), Partial Lease Square (PLS) and Bootstrapping. They provide a useful tool to determine and assess the possibility for new technology introductions. Indirectly, the understanding could reduce the percentage of resistance to adopt any new system, which takes into account the few factors identified in this research. Conclusively, the findings support the Unified Theory of Acceptance and the Use of Technology (UTAUT) theory in particular, and are consistent with previous findings in general. Hence, the new development in this tax e-filing aspect certainly would give impacts on the theory as well as managemen