The Impact of Gender on Tax Compliance in Southern Albania

We examine whether gender influences formal tax compliance among self-employed taxpayers in Southern Albania—focusing on two observable behaviors: paying taxes on time and the amount of unpaid tax debt (arrears). The study does not examine tax evasion or tax avoidance, as these behaviors cannot be directly observed in the available data. Using administrative data on 500 taxpayers in Fier, Vlorë, Berat, Gjirokastër, and Sarandë (January 2022–March 2025), we estimate the likelihood of timely payment with logistic and probit models and study unpaid liabilities using linear regression. Female-led businesses are more likely to meet deadlines and hold lower unpaid debts than male-led firms. These differences persist across sectors after controlling for firm size, region, income, and time. A negative and significant Gender × Sector term indicates that sectoral composition does not offset women’s compliance advantage in these formal outcomes. The effect size is relatively large for an environment with imperfect monitoring, suggesting that moral norms, reputational concerns, and perceived control weigh more heavily where deterrence is limited. From a policy perspective, adding gender to compliance-risk models and tailoring taxpayer services may indirectly improve voluntary payments and reduce arrears by refining compliance-risk assessment and targeting. To our knowledge, this is the first study in Albania using official administrative microdata to analyze gendered formal tax behavior, addressing a clear empirical gap in Southeastern Europe and providing evidence relevant for discussions of fair and inclusive fiscal policy in an EU-harmonization context. While the findings are derived from Southern Albania, they offer indicative insights for comparable transition economies in Southeastern Europe, rather than direct generalization.