Discussion paper

DP16379 Strategic or Confused Firms? Evidence from “Missing” Transactions in Uganda

Are firms sophisticated maximizers, or do they consistently make errors? Using transaction-level data from Ugandan value-added tax (VAT) returns, we show that sellers and buyers report different amounts 79% of the time, despite invoices being easily cross-checked. We estimate that 25% of firms are disadvantageous misreporters—they systematically misreport own sales and purchases such that their tax liability increases—while 75% are advantageous misreporters. Many firms—especially disadvantageous misreporters—fail to report imported inputs they themselves reported at Customs, increasing their VAT liability. On net, unilateral VAT misreporting cost Uganda about US$384 million in foregone 2013-2016 tax revenue.

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Citation

Almunia, M, J Hjort, J Knebelmann and L Tian (2021), ‘DP16379 Strategic or Confused Firms? Evidence from “Missing” Transactions in Uganda‘, CEPR Discussion Paper No. 16379. CEPR Press, Paris & London. https://cepr.org/publications/dp16379