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INTRODUCTION
According to Klue (2012a), the Chief Executive of the South African Institute of Tax Practitioners (SAIT), tax practitioners are expected to exercise a level of care, skill and diligence that is commensurate with their standing in society. In terms of common law, it is assumed that tax professionals such as tax practitioners owe this duty to taxpayer clients who request a tax service. The Minister of Finance, Mr Pravin Gordhan, has suggested that South African tax practitioners do not always meet acceptable compliance levels (National Treasury, 2012:18), implying that tax practitioners do not meet the demands of their taxpayer clients.
From the supply side, tax practitioners tend to measure the quality of the tax service they provide against determinants such as competitive fees, the expertise of their personnel, the range of tax services offered, the time spent on tax projects, technical competence, creative abilities, client advocacy and advice (Myers & Morris, 1998:29).
Viewing the issue from the demand side of this relationship, Hite and Hasseldine (2003:1) argue that taxpayers’ understanding and expectations of the role and responsibilities of tax practitioners differs in many instances from the capabilities and opinions of the tax practitioners. In this regard, Tan (2008:25) has found that, in general, taxpayers have higher expectations regarding tax services than they perceive themselves to receive from their taxpractitioners. These discrepancies have a negative impact on taxpayers’ satisfaction with the tax service provided. Taxpayers’ expectations are sometimes not congruent with their actual experience of the tax service provided by tax practitioners. This leads to an expectation gap between taxpayers’ expectations about a tax service provided to them and the tax practitioners’ perceptions of those expectations.
This study explores the factors contributing to the expectation gap between taxpayers and tax practitioners in the South African context. It focuses on the difference between taxpayers’ expectations about a tax service and the tax practitioners’ perceptions of these expectations on the one hand, and on the tax practitioners’ expectations about a tax service provided and the taxpayers’
perceptions of those expectations on the other hand.
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY
1.1 INTRODUCTION.
1.2 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
1.3 RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY .
1.4 RESEARCH PROBLEM.
1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.7 IMPORTANCE AND BENEFITS OF THE STUDY
1.8 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
1.9 DELIMITATIONS
1.11 PERSONAL ROLE OF THE RESEARCHER
1.12 TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE RESEARCH .
1.13 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.
1.14 DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS
1.15 STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS .
1.16 RELATIONSHIP OF THE FOUR RESEARCH PHASES TO THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RESEARCH OBJECTIVES AND THE CHAPTERS OF THE STUDY.
CHAPTER 2: CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND IN UNDERSTANDING THE EXPECTATION GAP BETWEEN TAXPAYERS AND TAX PRACTITIONERS
2.1 INTRODUCTION.
2.2 GENERAL ORIENTATION
2.3 THE ROLE OF TAX PRACTITIONERS IN A TAX SYSTEM.
2.4 DISPARITIES BETWEEN TAXPAYERS AND TAX PRACTITIONERS REGARDING TAX SERVICES
2.5 THE “EXPECTATION GAP” IN THE TAX ENVIRONMENT
CHAPTER 3: COMPLIANCE BEHAVIOUR OF TAXPAYERS AND TAX PRACTITIONERS..
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 ECONOMIC THEORIES ON TAXPAYER BEHAVIOUR.
3.3 THE ECONOMIC PSYCHOLOGY OF TAXPAYER BEHAVIOUR
3.4 TAXPAYER BEHAVIOUR RELATED TO PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS.
3.6 FACTORS INFLUENCING THE TAX COMPLIANCE BEHAVIOUR OF TAX PRACTITIONERS
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 RESEARCH ORIENTATION.
4.3 INTERACTIVE QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS (IQA)
4.4 PHASE 2: INTERACTIVE FOCUS GROUP SESSIONS
4.5 PHASE 3: THEORETICAL CODING: PARETO PROTOCOL
4.6 PHASE 4: THEMATIC ANALYSIS .
4.7 THE RESEARCH SETTING AND THE ROLES OF THOSE INVOLVED
4.8 TRUSTWORTHINESS
4.9 CONCLUDING REMARKS.
CHAPTER 5: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS – FOCUS
GROUP 1: TAXPAYERS
CHAPTER 6: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS – FOCUS
GROUP 2: CHARTERED ACCOUNTANTS
CHAPTER 7: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS – FOCUS
GROUP 3: PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANTS
CHAPTER 8: DATA ANALYSIS AND RESEARCH FINDINGS FOCUS
GROUP 4: OTHER TAX PRACTITIONERS
CHAPTER 9: THEMATIC ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION AND PROPOSITIONS
