The Inland Revenue Department (Inland Revenue) launched the Industry Benchmarking Programme (Benchmarking Programme) in 2011; which closely followed the Small Business Benchmarking Programme (SBBP) which was released by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in 2009. These programmes took data from tax returns and other sources, and turn this into a series of financial benchmarks for specific industries. The data from these programmes was then published on the respective websites of Inland Revenue and the ATO. It was envisaged by both tax administrations that this data would be used by taxpayers to benchmark their financial performance against others in their industry. The Benchmarking Programme was designed to assist Inland Revenue with its compliance strategy and to better its their audits. This exploratory research was mainly focused on the use (or lack of) of Inland Revenue’s Benchmarking Programme by taxpayers and tax practitioners. Other aspects of the Benchmarking Programme were investigated. Interviews with six tax practitioners were conducted, supplemented by documentary analysis of the Benchmarking Programme and other sources of data. It was found that the tax practitioners do not use the data for several reasons, including issues with the integrity of the data and its usefulness. It suggested that taxpayers do not use the data from the Benchmarking Programme, and indeed may not have any knowledge of it. The overall impact of the Benchmarking Programme was deemed to be minimal. Several recommendations were to be presented for consideration by Inland Revenue as a result of the findings in the project.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T18:39:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Edson Sampaio de Lima .pdf: 1538632 bytes, checksum: 82758dbf3b4358ba821b7e785e4026ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-09 / The Public System of Digital Bookkeeping SPED was developed with the aim of enabling greater integration between the tax administrations themselves then between them and taxpayers through the use of technology and, consequently, the socioeconomic standard, in a unique environment, raising tax collection efficiency and ultimately reducing the costs of administration and compliance. The purpose of this research was to examine whether public investment directed to the establishment and maintenance of the project actually resulted in a reduction in the costs of tax compliance temporary and permanent. The random Survey method was not used as a mechanism for data collection. The questionnaire containing 22 questions was sustained in the forecasting model of regulatory impact developed and applied by the Australian Taxation Office ATO in your country, adapted to identify reduction in compliance costs related to three specific organizational aspects: People, Technology and Contracting Services Consulting. The questionnaire was emailed to 20 people with executive position or managers directly involved in the project in SPED size businesses and distinct segment. Responded to the survey 20 of the 20 companies. The data collected were analyzed through descriptive and exploratory, in the latter case using the cluster analysis. The survey approach has met both the qualitative and the quantitative research. The results indicate that the SPED caused an increase in compliance costs temporary and permanent, mainly due to the implementation strategy defined and applied solely by the public administration. The analysis also allowed evidence that public investments directed to the implementation and maintenance of SPED comparatively similar to private investments directed to the same end, which shows a tendency to shift costs of administration for compliance costs for taxpayers / O Sistema Público de Escrituração Digital SPED foi desenvolvido com o fito de possibilitar maior integração entre as próprias administrações tributárias, depois entre elas e os contribuintes, através do uso de tecnologia e, consequentemente, de dados socioeconômicos padronizados, em um ambiente único, elevando a eficiência arrecadatória e, finalmente, reduzindo os custos de administração e de conformidade. O propósito desta pesquisa foi analisar se os investimentos públicos direcionados ao estabelecimento e manutenção do projeto realmente resultaram em redução nos custos de conformidade tributária temporários e permanentes. O método Survey não aleatório foi utilizado como mecanismo de levantamento de dados. O questionário desenvolvido contendo 22 questões foi apoiado no modelo de previsão de impacto regulatório desenvolvido e aplicado pela Australian Taxation Office ATO em seu país, adaptado para identificar redução nos custos de conformidade relacionados a três vertentes organizacionais específicas: Pessoas, Tecnologia e Contratação de Serviços de Consultoria. O questionário foi enviado por email a 20 pessoas com cargo de direção ou gerência diretamente envolvidos no projeto SPED em empresas de tamanho e segmento distintos. Responderam à pesquisa 20 das 20 empresas. As informações coletadas foram analisadas sob a ótica descritiva e exploratória, neste último caso utilizando-se da análise de cluster. A abordagem de pesquisa realizada atendeu tanto à pesquisa qualitativa como a pesquisa quantitativa. Os resultados obtidos indicam que o SPED provocou aumento dos custos de conformidade temporários e permanentes, sobretudo, devido à estratégia de implementação definida e aplicada unicamente pela administração pública. A análise também possibilitou evidenciar se os investimentos públicos direcionados para a implantação e manutenção do SPED são, comparativamente, semelhantes aos investimentos privados direcionados para o mesmo fim, o que demonstra tendência de transferência dos custos de administração para os custos de conformidade dos contribuintes