Publication - Research and analysis

International best practice in tax communications: Ernst and Young Research

Published: 15 August 2025
Directorate: Tax Directorate
Topic: Money and tax
ISBN: 9781836918998

Research conducted by Ernst and Young, commissioned by the Scottish Government, on approaches to tax communications internationally.

Supporting documents

Footnotes

1 Scottish Government (2024), Scotland’s Tax Strategy: Building on our Tax Principles

2 Scottish Government (2021), Framework for Tax

3 Scottish Government (2021), Framework for Tax

4 Scottish Government (2024), Tax Advisory Group, Terms of Reference

5 Scottish Government (2024), Scottish Budget 2025 to 2026: Public Attitudes to Tax. This survey was conducted online with a total sample size of 1,120 adults. Fieldwork took place from August 8 to August 13, 2024. The figures were weighted to ensure they are representative of all adults in Scotland aged 18 and over. Respondents were asked about their attitudes and priorities regarding tax policy, including "How well, if at all, do you feel you understand the UK tax system and the UK taxes you pay? And how well, if at all, do you feel you understand tax devolution in Scotland and the devolved taxes you pay?"

6 Tax Adviser (2024), Scottish taxes: the progress of continuing devolution

7 The National Archives (2014), The Smith Commission

8 Sharp, S. (2013), Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global, accessed 20 November 2024

9 Specifically, academic databases such as JSTOR, Google Scholar, and PubMed, along with government reports, policy papers, and reputable websites, were utilised to gather pertinent information.

10 As noted above, there are some significant differences between the communication and engagement environment in Scotland and the other jurisdictions. This includes the fact that Scotland (and the UK) has a tax administration system that has been designed to reduce the need for submission of a tax return. This automatically reduces the presence that the tax administration has in the world of the taxpayer.

11 Bennett, Mark, and Joel Colon-Rios (2011), “Public Participation and Regulation”, in Susy Frankel (ed), Learning from the Past, Adapting for the Future (2011), Chapter 2, 52

12 Fung, Archon (2006) “Varieties of Participation in Complex Governance.” Public Administration Review, vol. 66, pp. 66–75.

13 Wales and Wales (2012), Structures, processes and governance in tax policymaking: an initial report. Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation and by Australian Board of Taxation

14 The Tax Working Group (2018), The Generic Tax Policy Process, Background Paper for Session 14 of the Tax Working Group - July 2018

15 Closs-Davies and Sawyer (2022), Enhancing well-being in New Zealand and Wales through broadening the scope of consultation in tax policy design, University of Edinburgh

16 Sanger, C, (2017) quoted in “The top 10 UK tax complexities”, Vanessa Houlder, Financial Times, 27 October 2017

17 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

18 World Bank Group (2021), Behavioural Insights for Tax Compliance

19 Hunnerup Dahl, C. (2021) Trust-based Tax Compliance: A Survey of Empirical Evidence from a Tax Administration Perspective, European Union

20Institute for Government (2023), Government Communications in 2023 and Beyond

21 Sharp, S. (2013) Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global

22 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

23 Sharp, S. (2013) Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global

24 Institute for Government (2023), Government Communications in 2023 and Beyond

25 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

26Inland Revenue Department (2024), Home page

27 New Zealand Department of Internal Affairs (2024), Good Practice Participate

28 Institute for Government (2023), Smarter engagement: Harnessing public voice in policy challenges

29 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

30 Institute for Government (2023), Smarter engagement: Harnessing public voice in policy challenges

31Sharp, S. (2013) Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global

32 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

33 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

34 Sharp, S. (2013) Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global

35 Australian Taxation Office (2024), Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2023-2024

36 Inland Revenue Department (2024), Home page

37 Estonian Tax and Customs Board (2022), Advice for war refugees from Ukraine

38 Norwegian Tax Administration (2024), Information for asylum seekers from Ukraine

39 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

40 Norwegian Tax Administration (2024), Foreign

41 OECD (2023), Communication and Engagement with SMEs: Supporting SMEs to Get Tax Right, OECD Publishing, Paris

42 Australian Taxation Office (2024), Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2023-2024

43 Wales and Wales (2012), Structures, processes and governance in tax policymaking: an initial report. Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation

44 The definition of a high-risk taxpayers varies but but may include those who might be less likely to report or pay their tax liability.

45 Inland Revenue Department (2024), Inland Revenue Annual Report 2023-24

46 OECD (2023), Communication and Engagement with SMEs: Supporting SMEs to Get Tax Right, OECD Publishing, Paris

47 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

48 World Bank Group (2021), Behavioural Insights for Tax Compliance

49 Sharp, S. (2013), Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global, accessed 20 November 2024

50 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

51 Institute for Government (2023), Government Communications in 2023 and Beyond

52 Bennett, Mark, and Joel Colon-Rios (2011), “Public Participation and Regulation”, in Susy Frankel (ed), Learning from the Past, Adapting for the Future (2011), Chapter 2, 21- 70.

53 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

54 Ibid

55 State of California Franchise Tax Board (2024), Meetings – About

56 European Commission (2021), Germany - Annex II. Overview of the national RRF communication strategies

57 Norwegian Tax Administration (2024), 2023 Annual Report, available at Norwegian Tax Administration (2024), 2023 annual report

58 Australian Tax Office Instagram (2024)

59 Norwegian Tax Administration – Youtube (2020), Money Back on the Skætt (full song video)

60 Federal Ministry of Finance (2024), Finanzisch

61 State of Baden-Württemberg (2024), Taxes simply explained

62 OECD (2021), Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education, Second Edition, OECD Publishing, Paris

63 Ibid

64 Sharp, S. (2013), Communicating taxes: a review of the literature, ODI Global, accessed 20 November 2024