Government Tax Support Concepts and Tax Planning Behavior in the COVID-19 Spreading Situation in Thailand

Abstract

The spread of COVID-19 has had a tremendous impact on the Thai economy. Therefore, government tax support concepts were announced to reduce the cost burden and promote economic liquidity. The purposes of this research were 1) to compare the opinions about government tax support concepts and tax planning behavior of taxpayers with different ages, educational levels, occupations, average annual incomes, and tax-paying behaviors; and 2) to verify the effects of government tax support concepts on tax planning behavior. A questionnaire was used to collect data from 336 taxpayers in Thailand. The statistics that used for analyzing the collected data were frequency, percentage, ANOVA, multiple correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The results of the research revealed that 1) taxpayers with different occupations have different opinions on government tax support concepts; 2) taxpayers with different ages, occupations, and tax-paying behaviors have different opinions about tax planning behavior; and 3) government tax support concepts, in the aspects of income-supported policy, expense-supported policy, and other-supported policy, had significantly positive relationships and impacts on tax planning behavior. Therefore, the government can use this study as a guide to establish tax aid policies in various fields to meet the needs of taxpayers who continue to be heated by the effects of COVID-19, so that citizens can be used in tax planning and preventing tax evasions that are detrimental to the nation.