E-invoicing, Tax Audits and VAT Compliance

• BSE Working Paper: 110925 | July 24
• Keywords: Tax evasion , technological change , tax audit evaluation , digitalisation initiatives , tax administration , tax compliance
• JEL codes: H25, H26, H32, O17, O33, D02, D22
• Tax evasion
• technological change
• tax audit evaluation
• digitalisation initiatives
• tax administration
• tax compliance

Difficult to find another policy shift that has promised as much for tax compliance in developing countries as digitalization. Yet the evidence on its impact is scant. Using the universe of tax filings in Rwanda over the period 2012-2019, this paper investigates the extent to which digitalization (in the form of e-invoicing) has impacted on VAT compliance and, in particular, the effectiveness of tax audits. The evidence suggests that while e-invoicing adoption per se has increased firms’ net VAT payments, this impact is quantitatively limited, as firms seem to re-adjust their expenses so to keep VAT payments low. Interestingly, e-invoicing had a sizable compliance impact on net VAT liabilities re- ported by audited firms, with this impact being attributed to tax audits becoming more efficient, rather than to VAT registered firms becoming more cautious following their participation in the e-invoicing mechanism.