ABSTRACT

Tax compliance means taxpayers fulfill their obligations voluntarily, without coercion from the tax administration. Tax compliance, which enables the transformation of state and taxpayer relations into a positive process, reduces tax collection costs. Since tax compliance ensures that tax revenues are collected timely, it reduces the negative effects of interest burdens related to borrowing. In order to ensure the continuity of tax compliance, various regulations have been made in Turkish tax legislation. In this respect, a discount regulation has been introduced to income tax and corporate taxpayers that allows 5% lower tax payments. Taxpayers, who show tax compliance as another legal regulation, have been given convenience in the postponement of their debts. The study presents the results of the implementation of the tax compliance deduction. The findings were obtained directly from the questions asked by taxpayers seeking to benefit from the tax compliance deduction and from the responses provided by the tax administration. When the results of the application are examined, the number of taxpayers benefiting from the discount is not sufficient. To examine the difficulties and hesitations taxpayers face regarding the discount in practice, relevant rulings from the Revenue Administration's Ruling Archive were examined using document review and content analysis. In the study, it was concluded that taxpayers should not lose the discount advantage due to the company being taken over or merged, especially in case of involving transfers, mergers, and similar transaction. The discount right of the party that meets the discount conditions must be protected to the extent of its share in the new financial size. In addition, taxpayers losing their right to deduction for 3 years due to not filing their tax returns on time is a very harsh condition considering the number and type of tax returns. The tax administration must adopt a stance that ensures taxpayers do not lose their tax deduction rights. The number of taxpayers benefiting from the deductions granted to compliant taxpayers should increase.

JEL Classification: H24, H26.