Ethics in Tax Administration

Abstract

The objective of the article is to present the qualitative research of the perceptions of ethical problems in Lithuanian tax administration from the point of view of both taxpayers and tax administrators. A questionnaire reflecting the statements of the Ethics Code has been designed. A group of taxpayers and a group of tax experts filled the questionnaire reporting their evaluation of practical implementation of the principles of tax administrator's ethical conduct. The questionnaire has been supplemented by personal in-depth interviews to find out the perceptions of what rules of ethical behavior might have been broken in the process of tax collection. Results indicate that taxpayers are less critical in evaluating ethical behavior of tax administrators than tax administrators evaluate themselves. Tax administrators are harsher in judging the ethical behavior of their colleagues and themselves. They also have more proposals to improve co-operation between taxpayers and tax administrators.