Tax return filing online – Case Finnish Tax Administration

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate which factors affect diffusion of tax return filing online (e-return) in Finland. Another aim was to develop an adoption forecast for the service. Finally, customer categorization was suggested in order to enable e-return deliver more public value by accommodating the needs of different customer groups.Diffusion of Innovations theory, Bass Diffusion Model and Service Process Analysis were used as theoretical base for the study. E-return user satisfaction survey conducted by Finnish Tax Administration was used for statistical analysis and mathematical modeling. In addition, e-return in Finland was benchmarked against leading practices from Denmark, Estonia and the Netherlands. Another comparative study was conducted with a popular business-to-customer service with similar characteristics – e-billing in TeliaSonera.As a result of the study, we discovered that the diffusion of e-return is dependent on such variables as perceived attributes of e-return system, interpersonal communication channels, performance of related services, and extent of Tax Administration’s promotion efforts. In addition, we classified taxpayers in four main categories based on taxpayers’ demographics and personal income tax filing needs. The first category, which accounts for 60% of all population, represents those who accept tax assessment decision without making any deductions. The second category, which covers another 36% of taxpayers, consists of individuals who make few deductions. Another 2.5% of taxpayers make speculative deductions that involve consultations with friends or professionals, e.g. healthcare-related deductions. The last 1.5% is the wealthiest taxpayers who use financial advisors for asset management and taxation. Based on our analysis, we prepared recommendations for improving the e-return service in Finland. The recommendations can be split into two groups: recommendations aiming at increasing the attractiveness of e-return for potential adopters (e.g. introduction of instant tax assessment feature online), and recommendations meant to discourage people from submitting tax return in paper (e.g. paper form service processing fee).