Purpose

The present work aimed to present the perception of Tunisian professionals towards companies engaged in social responsibility practices and describe the tax evasion strategies of socially responsible Tunisian companies following the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (COVID-19) shock.

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was sent to 119 Tunisian tax administration auditors. Data analysis methods principal component analysis (PCA) and regression analysis were used. The data were collected through a questionnaire after the general containment of Tunisia from September 2020 to February 2021. These quantitative data were analysed using processing software (STATA).

Findings

Professionals of the tax authorities, particularly those in charge of the audit mission, aim for corporate profitability from the perspective of stakeholders that seek to integrate ethics and social responsibility into companies and consider employee morale a top priority. The results show that highly ethical and socially responsible professionals are far from practising aggressive strategies. Thus, an auditor from the tax administration is far from engaging in social responsibility to justify fraudulent acts. During the COVID-19 period, the role of these professionals was to prevent and detect fraud in the tax sector to fight corruption and investigate taxes based on sound regulations.

Research limitations/implications

The results are consistent with optimal taxation theory, which postulates that a tax system should be chosen to maximise a social welfare function subject to a set of constraints. Professionals seek to make taxation much simpler for taxpayers by providing advice and consultation to manage tax obligations. The minimisation of tax or the play of tax values requires expertise in the field to respect legal constraints. Therefore, these professionals play a crucial role in tax collection, as the professionals' advice and suggestions can influence taxpayers' decision-making.

Practical implications

In recent years, academic researchers, policy makers and the public have become increasingly interested in corporate tax evasion behaviour. At the same time, companies are under increasing pressure to integrate CSR into the companies' decision-making processes, which has led to increased academic interest in CSR. Opportunistic tax minimisation reduces state resources and funds needed for government programmes to improve the social welfare of the entire community. This study represents an overriding concern not only for legal and tax authorities and companies, but also for shareholders and stakeholders.

Originality/value

The authors' study contributes to the existing literature by determining the state of play on corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices amongst Tunisian tax authorities' professionals. In Tunisia, an executive of the tax authorities in charge of the verification mission is required to verify the proper application of the accounting and tax legislation in force, follow up on tax control operations on declared taxes and validate the sincerity of the accounts. This study focussed on the tax evasion of companies engaged in social responsibility practices according to the judgements of Tunisian tax authorities' auditors during the global COVID-19 pandemic.

中文翻译：

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社会责任与逃税：突尼斯专业人士的有组织的伪善

目的

目前的工作旨在展示突尼斯专业人士对从事社会责任实践的公司的看法，并描述在 2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行（COVID-19）冲击后具有社会责任感的突尼斯公司的逃税策略。

设计/方法论/途径

一项调查已发送给 119 名突尼斯税务管理局审计员。数据分析方法采用主成分分析（PCA）和回归分析。这些数据是在2020年9月至2021年2月突尼斯全面遏制后通过问卷收集的。使用处理软件（STATA）对这些定量数据进行分析。

发现

税务机关的专业人员，特别是负责审计任务的专业人员，从利益相关者的角度以企业盈利为目标，寻求将道德和社会责任融入企业，并将员工士气视为首要任务。结果表明，具有高度道德和社会责任感的专业人士远未采取激进策略。因此，税务机关的审计师远没有承担社会责任来为欺诈行为辩护。在 COVID-19 期间，这些专业人员的作用是预防和发现税务部门的欺诈行为，以打击腐败并根据健全的法规调查税收。

研究局限性/影响

结果与最优税收理论一致，该理论假设应选择一种税收制度，以在一系列约束下实现社会福利函数的最大化。专业人士通过提供管理纳税义务的建议和咨询，力求使纳税人的纳税变得更加简单。税收最小化或税收价值的发挥需要该领域的专业知识以尊重法律约束。因此，这些专业人士在税收征管中发挥着至关重要的作用，专业人士的意见和建议可以影响纳税人的决策。

实际影响

近年来，学术研究人员、政策制定者和公众对企业逃税行为越来越感兴趣。与此同时，企业面临着越来越大的压力，将企业社会责任纳入企业的决策过程，这导致学术界对企业社会责任的兴趣日益浓厚。机会主义税收最小化减少了改善整个社区社会福利的政府计划所需的国家资源和资金。这项研究不仅代表了法律和税务机关和公司的首要关注，也代表了股东和利益相关者的首要关注。

原创性/价值

作者的研究通过确定突尼斯税务机关专业人员的企业社会责任（CSR）实践状况，为现有文献做出了贡献。在突尼斯，负责核查任务的税务机关高管必须核查现行会计和税务立法的正确应用，跟踪对申报税款的税务控制操作，并验证账目的真实性。本研究根据突尼斯税务机关审计员在全球COVID-19大流行期间的判断，重点关注从事社会责任实践的公司的逃税情况。