Volume 19, Issue 2 – Freudenberg, Brimble and Belle Isle

Tax Literacy of Australian Small Businesses

By Brett Freudenberg, Toni Chardon, Mark Brimble and Melissa Belle Isle

Abstract

Small businesses are a critical component of economies, although they face a myriad of issues, including their literacy in relation to a number of key business issues. In recent years tax literacy has been argued as an important part of financial literacy. Research has demonstrated that a person’s tax literacy is likely to be greater when they are self-employed and operate their own businesses. However, whether this increased tax literacy is sufficient to address the labyrinth of issues faced when running a business is questionable. This article reports further evidence about the tax literacy of Australians who have conducted a business in relation to GST, deductions and their compliance attitude. These findings can build the foundation for future work to explore how tax literacy is an important component of financial literacy for small businesses.

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