Tax avoidance: The aspect of value added tax

Abstract

Tax avoidance is probably as old phenomenon as the taxes themselves. The literature has disclosed that tax avoidance is a worrying problem facing not only the Baltic economies but also the global economy. Tax avoidance and VAT in particular, undoubtedly causes significant damage to the functioning of the public sector and to the financing of public expenditure, because the fiscal significance of this tax is very high. On the other hand, the VAT gap is a significant problem, as in Lithuania in the period of 2012-2018 it ranged from 200 to 300 million Euros; the Lithuania's budget lost so much money every quarter. The article aims to identify the factors influencing the VAT gap in the Baltic States. The study is performed using quantitative methods. The influence of optional factors on the VAT gap is determined by performing a correlation-regression analysis of the Baltic States. The study showed that the tax gap, migration and tax rate factors had the largest impact on the VAT gap in the Baltic States.