Abstract

Ineffective tax assessment and systemic deficiencies have been the general perceptions that tax administrators do not remit tax collections, and this is greatly affecting tax revenue generation in Nigeria. Prior studies have attributed these anomalies to lack of efficient information technology and competent tax administrators. Consequently, this study investigated the effect of information technology on effective tax assessment in Nigeria. The study adopted survey research design. The population was 2,857 management and administrative staff of six selected multinational companies in Lagos State alongside the Federal Inland Revenue Services in Lagos offices and Lagos State Internal Revenue Service. Krejcie and Morgan’ formula was used to determine the sample size of 641 based on stratified sampling technique. The Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficients ranged between 0.88 and 0.96. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics used for data analysis revealed that information technology had a positive statistical significant effect on effective tax assessment Adj. R² = 0.172; F-Statistics (4, 637) = 35.46; P-value = 0.000. The study recommended that the government should provide enabling tax laws as well as simplifying the ambiguities and complexities in some of the existing tax laws to facilitate effective tax assessment in Nigeria.

Key words: Digital tax, easy filing, enabling tax laws, information technology, tax assessment, tax revenue.