The Role of Tax Administration in Shaping SME Performance in Lae, Papua New Guinea

The objective of the study is to evaluate how the role of tax administration in shaping SME performance in Lae City, Papua New Guinea. The social, legal, economic, and environmental reasons taxpayers want to abide by the tax system's rules. The current tax benefits, such as free zone incentives, income tax exemptions, double taxation agreements, capital gains exemptions, and import duty exemptions, do not currently support the expansion of SMEs. The study sampled 100. Purposive sampling was used to select the community sample in this study to obtain accurate results. The tax collection of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is crucial for a country's economic growth and development. Governments should consider simplifying tax legislation and provide instruction in simple terms. Ensure the tax rates for SME’s are reasonable and competitive. In Addition to that SME’s must minimize their tax liability and engage in the tax planning and regularly adjusting and reviewing the structure of the business can efficiently help tax to optimize, by hiring and consulting the tax professionals can be more helpful to small-medium enterprise to help navigate the difficult tax codes and to reduce risk of non-tax compliances. SME association should engage with tax authorities to get feedback and better comprehend the particular needs and challenges faced by SMEs in the field of taxation.