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Behavioural prompts to increase early filing of tax returns: a population-level randomised controlled trial of 11.2 million taxpayers in Indonesia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 October 2022

Ruth Persian Open the ORCID record for Ruth Persian [Opens in a new window] ,
Gitarani Prastuti Open the ORCID record for Gitarani Prastuti [Opens in a new window] ,
Adityawarman ,
Daniel Bogiatzis-Gibbons ,
Muhammad Hakim Kurniawan ,
Gatot Subroto ,
Muhammad Mustakim ,
Laurenz Scheunemann ,
Kizzy Gandy  and
Alex Sutherland
Ruth Persian*
Affiliation:
Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
Gitarani Prastuti
Affiliation:
Directorate General of Taxes, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Adityawarman
Affiliation:
Directorate General of Taxes, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Daniel Bogiatzis-Gibbons
Affiliation:
Directorate General of Taxes, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Muhammad Hakim Kurniawan
Affiliation:
Directorate General of Taxes, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Gatot Subroto
Affiliation:
Directorate General of Taxes, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Muhammad Mustakim
Affiliation:
Directorate General of Taxes, DKI Jakarta, Indonesia
Laurenz Scheunemann
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, Germany
Kizzy Gandy
Affiliation:
Independent Scholar, Sydney, Australia
Alex Sutherland
Affiliation:
Behavioural Insights Team, London, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Ruth Persian, email: ruth.persian@bi.team
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Abstract

In Indonesia, as in other countries, a large proportion of tax returns are filed at the last minute. In a population-wide randomised controlled trial (n = 11,157,069), we evaluated the impact of behavioural email prompts on the proportion of annual tax returns filed at least two weeks before the deadline; and overall filing rate. In two control conditions, taxpayers either received no email or an email used in prior years, emphasising regulatory information. The five treatments informed by behavioural science were (1) a simplified version of the existing email, emphasising early filing; (2) the simplified version with additional guidance on filing taxes; (3) the simplified version with a planning prompt and option to sign up for email reminders; (4) a version combining treatments 1, 2 and 3; and (5) an email appealing to national pride. Compared to the no-email control, all emails led to a statistically significant increase in early and overall filing rates. The planning email (3) was the most effective, increasing early filling from 34.9% to 37% (b 2.07 percentage points (pp), p < 0.001, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.97–2.17pp), and overall filing from 65.6% to 66.7% (b 1.10pp, p < 0.001, 95% CI 0.99–1.19pp).

Keywords

RCTtax filingplanning promptsIndonesia

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Type
Article
Information
Behavioural Public Policy , Volume 7 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 701 - 720
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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