Nudging tax compliance: Evidence from a laboratory experiment

We test whether minimal, non-informative messages can nudge tax compliance beyond standard deterrence. In a within-subjects lab experiment, we randomize exposure to either a “reminder” that leaves audit probability unchanged or an informative “warning” tied to higher audit probability, and estimate effects on both the probability of evasion and the share of income evaded. A short non-informative reminder, holding incentives fixed, lowers the probability of evasion by about 16 percentage points, with no detectable effect on the evaded share among evaders; informative messages add at most marginal effects once audit probability is controlled for.