An analysis of the factors that influence Namibian individual taxpayers to participate in tax amnesty programs
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Date
2025
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University of Namibia
Abstract
This quantitative study analysed the factors influencing Namibian individual
taxpayers’ decisions to participate in Namibia's tax amnesty programs. The study
aimed to address the persistent challenge of low tax compliance in Namibia,
particularly in the context of non-compliance among individual taxpayers. Using
primary data from a sample of 375 respondents, the research investigated the effects
of demographic variables (age, income level, occupation, and gender), tax knowledge,
understanding, perceived fairness, transparency, awareness, and perceived tax benefits
on participation in the tax amnesty program. In this study, Structural Equation
Modelling technique namely "Partial Least Squares" referred as SEM-PLS was
selected to test the presented hypotheses and relationships between these variables.
Namibian taxpayers’ participation in tax amnesties is influenced by income levels, tax
knowledge and fairness, while their age and gender are not associated with this
decision. Peculiar to Namibian individual taxpayers, age and gender are not important
factors in influencing compliance or tax amnesty participation. The results highlighted
the importance of occupation particularly for self-employed taxpayers and showed that
perceived transparency held greater relevance in Namibia than in similar studies
conducted elsewhere. These results illustrate the special compliance problems of self employed taxpayers in emerging economies. The findings expand the tax compliance
literature and considerations for improving the success of amnesty programs
Description
A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Accounting and Finance
Keywords
Tax amnesty, Tax compliance, Namibia, Structural equation modelling, Taxpayer awareness, Amnesty participation, University of Namibia