Awareness, Motivation, and Tax Compliance of Self-Employed Individuals and Professionals

This study determined the level of awareness, degree of motivation, and tax compliance of self-employed individuals and professionals in General Santos City, and whether the level of awareness and degree of motivation have a significant relationship with tax compliance.  This research used a descriptive and correlational design, utilizing the survey as the primary data-gathering method. Data from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) were also used to support the findings.  Multiple regression was used to analyze the data. The majority of the respondents are sole proprietors engaged in services and earn an annual income of Php 250,000 and below.  The level of tax awareness was determined to be high.  The respondents were intrinsically motivated to comply with tax regulations at a high level and extrinsically motivated at a very high level.  The level of compliance was determined to be high. This was attributed to the programs of the BIR such as briefings, social media updates, tax quizzes, surveillance operations, tax mapping, dialogues, and caravans.  The regression analysis reveals that only the level of awareness and the degree of extrinsic motivation have a significant relationship with the level of tax compliance and that the level of awareness has a bigger strength in terms of affecting tax compliance.  Based on these results, a tax awareness program was designed to increase tax compliance.   The program focuses on tax education campaigns and the integration of income taxation in senior high and non-business college curricula.  Further studies on other factors affecting tax compliance were proposed.