Drivers of self-reported and hypothetical tax evasion behaviour: evidence from Slovakia

The study examines the socio-demographic and experience-related determinants of tax evasion behaviour, distinguishing between self-reported past engagement in tax evasion and hypothetical willingness to engage in tax evasion.Adopting a behaviour perspective, the analysis integrates experience-related factors with socio-demographic characteristics to better understand individuallevel tax evasion behaviour beyond purely legal or institutional explanations.Primary data were collected through a questionnaire survey conducted in Slovakia.After data cleaning, responses from 423 respondents were retained for the analysis using a series of binary logistic regression models.The results show that self-reported tax evasion is significantly associated with gender, income level, entrepreneurial experience, and prior exposure to tax audits.In contrast, hypothetical willingness to evade taxes is only weakly related to these factors.When past tax evasion behaviour is included in the scenario-based model, it emerges as a strong predictor of future willingness to engage in tax evasion.This indicates notable differences between the determinants of actual and hypothetical tax evasion behaviour.By distinguishing between past behaviour and scenario-based responses, this study provides evidence that experience-related factors play a role in shaping tax evasion behaviour at the individual level.The findings contribute to the literature on tax compliance by highlighting the importance of behavioural history and by demonstrating that hypothetical measures may not fully reflect real-world tax evasion behaviour.