Tax Knowledge, Penalties and Tax Compliance in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Nigeria

The study investigated the impacts of tax payers’ knowledge and penalties on tax compliance amongst small and medium enterprises in Nigeria using a survey research design. The data obtained from questionnaire were analyzed using the Ordinary Least Square regression method. The results showed that tax knowledge had a positive significant impact on tax compliance while tax penalty had insignificant positive impact on tax compliance. Thus, the study shows that tax knowledge has a higher tendency to promote tax compliance than tax penalty. Government should therefore do everything possible to increase public knowledge on tax matters and tax education should be included in school curricula at all times. Small and medium scale business owners should also seek to advance their tax knowledge and awareness for the mutual benefits of the governments and taxpayers.