Understanding power at tax investigation: the portuguese tax inspector’s view

Abstract

The tax inspection procedure depends on a set of interactions between the tax inspector and the taxpayer. Tax inspectors are responsible for conducting this relationship and they have a large set of legal prerogatives to use - power actions. The way those power actions are used may define the taxpayers propensity to regularize their tax situation or, on the contrary, adopt a position of resistance or confrontation. From a questionnaire carried out with 85 Portuguese Tax Inspectors (PTIs), 40 power actions were analyzed. We identify five different levels of power actions according to their harshness. We have also analyzed the correlations between frequency of use and perceived efficiency. We conclude that PTIs do not use more invasive power actions very often, even though these are perceived as more efficient.