DETERMINANTS OF VOLUNTARY TAX COMPLIANCE IN CONSULTING AND ACCOUNTING SERVICES: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY IN INDONESIA

Abstract

Tax compliance within the consulting and accounting services sector remains underexplored, yet this sector
occupies a uniquely important position in Indonesia’s tax ecosystem particularly following the January 2025
launch of the Coretax digital tax administration system. This study investigates what drives voluntary tax
compliance (VTC) among corporate taxpayers in Indonesian consulting and accounting firms, drawing on
comparative data from OECD member countries to situate the findings within a broader policy context. Using
a mixed method design, the study combines a quantitative survey of 80 respondents (finance staff, tax officers,
and directors at consulting and accounting service firms) with qualitative interviews from eight key informants.
Three core determinants are examined: tax literacy, perceived ease of the Coretax system, and perceived tax
burden, with institutional trust in the Directorate General of Taxes (DJP) as a moderator. The study is
grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and the
Slippery Slope Framework (SSF). Preliminary arguments drawn from the literature suggest that tax literacy
and perceived ease of Coretax will positively influence voluntary compliance, while high perceived tax burden
will attenuate this effect and that institutional trust will significantly amplify both relationships. The gap
between Indonesia’s tax ratio (~10.4% of GDP) and the OECD average (~34%) is used not merely as
background context, but as an analytical lens for understanding what structural conditions must change for
digital tax reform to produce meaningful compliance gains in a developing economy.