Abstract

The paper examined the influence of tax amnesty programme on tax compliance in Nigeria moderating the effect of political trust. The survey research design was employed to understand the taxpayer's perception of the Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS). We collected the data through the administration of questionnaires to taxpayers across the most commercial states in Nigeria.  The data obtained were analysed using the frequency table, the Cronbach alpha test, and the binary logistic regression technique. The survey showed that the compliance rate was about 22%. The study showed that the primary driver of tax compliance in Nigeria is unannounced ad hoc tax audit; this implies that tax compliance will increase when taxpayers are aware there is an unannounced ad hoc tax audit. It is evident from this study that the low tax compliance was as a result of the moderating effect of political trust of the taxpayers as indicated by the amnesty*trust and trust showed a negative relationship with tax compliance in Nigeria. Based on the empirical analysis, the paper concludes that the Tax Amnesty Programme VAIDS has a significant influence on tax compliance in Nigeria. The paper recommended that the government should build and strengthen the institutions, which give a sense of accountability and perception of good governance to the taxpayers, which will encourage voluntary tax compliance in the long run.

Key words: Tax amnesty, tax compliance, political trust, Voluntary Assets and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS).