THE ROLE OF CASHLESS TRANSACTIONS IN THE PROCESS OF LIMITING THE SCALE OF THE SHADOW ECONOMY

Abstract

This article presents the existing state of cashless transactions in Poland, taking into consideration the network of card acceptance among enterprises. Even though in recent years cashless transactions has been dynamically developing and using bank accounts and cashless payment instruments to carry out daily transactions is becoming more popular, the distance between the level of development of cashless transactions in Poland and that in other EU countries is still significant (NBP, 2013). According to the author, the possibility of two-way operations occurring between the cashless transactions and the shadow economy is both a very important and as of yet unverified research area. The literature describes the positive influence of the cashless transactions on the reduction of the shadow economy; the author, however, has attempted to determine whether the shadow economy can also influence the development of the cashless transactions. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to prove that limiting the use of cash money in the economy can indeed contribute to the reduction of the shadow economy. Two research methods are used in this article: literature study and statistical analysis. The study of literature concerning this subject has been carried out on the basis of domestic and foreign scientific journals and the quantified description and the analysis of the shadow economy and cashless transactions have been based on extensive statistical data. According to a study, a tool that provides a possibility of the reduction of the shadow economy in the area of unregistered transactions shall be the launched Program Wsparcia Obrotu Bezgotówkowego.