Voluntary Tax Compliance Behaviour of Individual Taxpayers: An Empirical Investigation

In the context of the contemporary tax collection, voluntary tax compliance has become a key variable affecting the mobilisation of revenues and fiscal sustainability. This paper analyses the most important aspects of voluntary tax compliance among individual taxpayers giving special focus on behavioural, socio-economic, institutional, and technological factors. The study uses only secondary sources, such as published scholarly articles, governmental reports, policy statements, tax administration research, and empirical results of both international and country-specific research.The research examines the impact of variables like tax awareness, perceived fairness of tax system, trust on government, enforcement, digitalisation of tax services and social norms on the voluntary compliance of individual taxpayers. The particular focus is on the increasing importance of digital platforms, e-filing systems, and data-driven compliance that has been proposed in India over the last few years and that has greatly transformed the taxpayer behaviour in recent years.The literature findings show that deterrence and penalties are not the only factor expensive to voluntary tax compliance but that psychological and behavioural factors such as moral obligation, transparency and compliance ease are also instrumental. It is also noted in the study that a higher degree of digitalisation has enhanced compliance through making it less complex and less expensive and perceived inequity as well as gaps in tax literacy remains an obstacle to complete voluntary participation.The research also states that the optimal solution towards increasing voluntary compliance to taxation is a balance between effective enforcement, education of the taxpayer, streamlined processes and building trust. These determinants should be enhanced so that sustainable tax compliance can be achieved and efficiency of the tax system in India enhanced.