Understanding taxpayers’ trust and perceived risk of using the electronic tax filing system

M.Com. (Information Technology Management)Abstract: In recent times, government have benefitted from the efficiency and convenience introduced by digital solutions such as e-government. Tax e-filing system is a type of e-government adopted by many tax authorities worldwide, enabling taxpayers to adopt the online tax filing system to submit tax returns for processing. The adoption of efiling by taxpayers is key in understanding the future development of online tax systems and to encourage e-filing usage. Despite the enhancement of the e-filing system in developing countries such as South Africa, tax authorities have not yet achieved full adoption and usage of the e-filing system by taxpayers. Taxpayers still adopt traditional methods of filing their taxes which generally involve visiting the branches, face to face consultations, e-mail and telephone inquiries. It is therefore important for government tax authorities to understand the reasons for non-adoption of the electronic tax filing system. This will ensure that mitigation action is implemented to increase adoption. This research focused on understanding the reasons for non-adoption of electronic tax filing. The purpose of this study is to determine the factors that influence South African taxpayers to adopt the electronic tax filing system. The study integrated constructs from TTAT model (namely, Perceived Threat and Safeguard Effectiveness) with the UTAUT model, with the purpose of achieving two objectives; namely (1) To identify what influences the behavioural intention to adopt e-filing system; and (2) Examine the importance of each variable for taxpayers that do not adopt the online tax filing system. The population consisted of 154 South African taxpayers’ responses captured on a questionnaire-based study. The results revealed that the adoption of e-filing was determined by society and close family relations. Additionally, the knowledge of antiphishing IT tools and anti-phishing education influence the intention to adopt e-filing by taxpayers. Interestingly, the study findings indicated that facilitating condition constructs, that is, a lack of resource was not the biggest predictor of behavioural intention to adopt e-filing like it has been in many developing countries