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Tax Evasion Tolerance in Somaliland | ICPAS
ICPAS Survey Report 2026Interactive web edition
Integrated individual and business survey

Tax Evasion Tolerance in Somaliland

How citizens and business operators evaluate concrete evasion scenarios, institutional fairness and compliance reform.

Published by ICPAS · Hargeisa, Somaliland · May 2026

2.14

shared mean tolerance score

Individuals: 2.137. Businesses: 2.140. The difference is effectively zero on the 1-to-5 acceptability scale (p = 0.980).

168individual respondents
239business operators
66.1%individuals reject the scenario
64.3%businesses reject the scenario
82.8%say evasion is always morally wrong

Evasion is broadly rejected. That compliance asset must be protected.

Both surveys identify a low level of tolerance for evasion. Yet the business environment contains substantial concerns about revenue use, political favouritism and system integrity.

The moral baseline is encouraging. Around two-thirds of both individuals and business operators rate the scenario presented to them as unacceptable. More than four in five business operators agree that tax evasion is always morally wrong.

Legitimacy remains vulnerable. A taxpayer may believe evasion is wrong and still become less willing to comply if revenue use is unclear, procedures are difficult or connected businesses appear to receive preferential treatment.

The reform task is not to manufacture an anti-evasion norm. It is to convert an existing norm into sustained voluntary compliance.
2.137

Individual mean

Rental-income non-declaration scenario, where lower scores indicate stronger rejection.

2.140

Business mean

Payroll underreporting scenario on the same five-point acceptability scale.

Attitudes, business perceptions and system signals.

Switch between the individual result, business result and the wider compliance environment. Percentages describe surveyed respondents, not national evasion rates.

Most individuals reject rental-income non-declaration.

The 19.0% high-tolerance group and 14.9% neutral group remain important audiences for fairness, service and compliance communication.

Low tolerance: unacceptable66.1%
Neutral14.9%
High tolerance: acceptable19.0%
Female low tolerance74.4%
Male high tolerance22.5%

Business operators also reject wage underreporting.

The result comes from operators with direct exposure to registration, payment, filing and enforcement.

Low tolerance: unacceptable64.3%
Neutral17.4%
High tolerance: acceptable18.3%
Evasion always morally wrong82.8%
Detection likelihood perceived high71.7%

Positive administrative signals coexist with trust risks.

These are perceptions. They do not establish misuse, favouritism or corruption as facts, but they identify vulnerabilities in system legitimacy.

Authority provides clear information75.1%
Officials are knowledgeable74.2%
Perceive political favouritism70.8%
Believe revenue sometimes misused68.2%
Agree system is corruption-free46.8%

The convergence across surveys is the strongest policy opportunity.

Different respondents evaluated different but comparable scenarios. Their average judgement was almost identical and leaned clearly toward rejection.

PopulationMean scoreScenario and interpretation
Individual respondents2.137 / 5Rental income not declared to avoid tax; 66.1% reject the conduct.
Business operators2.140 / 5Employee wages underreported to reduce tax; 64.3% reject the conduct.
Difference-0.003Effectively zero and statistically insignificant, p = 0.980.
Business moral norm4.28 / 582.8% agree that tax evasion is always morally wrong.
2 in 3

Reject the scenarios

The shared anti-evasion norm can support credible public communication.

1 in 5

Higher individual tolerance

A meaningful minority may view some evasion as acceptable.

p = .980

No mean difference

The survey averages for individuals and businesses converge.

Public messages can truthfully say that most surveyed citizens and businesses considered the evasion scenarios unacceptable.

Female respondents show stronger rejection of evasion.

Gender is the only tested demographic variable with a statistically significant relationship to the individual scenario score. The effect is modest and should inform communication, not stereotyping.

2.22

Male mean tolerance

63.6% low tolerance; 22.5% high tolerance.

1.87

Female mean tolerance

74.4% low tolerance; 7.7% high tolerance.

The difference is statistically significant. p = 0.041, with Cohen's d approximately 0.32, a small-to-medium effect.

Other demographic tests were not significant. Age, education and employment type did not reliably separate tolerance scores in this sample.

Women should be recognised as potential compliance leaders and communicators, not made solely responsible for tax-compliance outcomes.

Moral opposition can coexist with institutional frustration.

The business survey shows why enforcement alone is insufficient. Voluntary compliance also depends on visible fairness, transparent revenue use, service quality and easy payment.

70.8%

Preferential treatment concern

Believe large or politically connected businesses receive favourable treatment.

68.2%

Revenue-use concern

Believe tax revenue is sometimes misused.

46.9%

Digital reform demand

Digital tax payment was the leading coded open-response theme.

1

Payment and receipts

Mobile-friendly channels with immediate confirmation.

2

Registration and filing

Simple forms, guidance and assisted digital support.

3

Taxpayer accounts

Statements, reminders and verified payment history.

4

Transparent outcomes

Plain-language reporting that connects revenue to services.

Digitalisation is not only a technology project. It is also a convenience, documentation and integrity reform.

Protect the norm through convenience, fairness and transparency.

Open each reform area to review the practical actions recommended by the study.

01Digital tax payment
  • Expand official online and mobile-money payment channels with automatic receipts.
  • Allow simple verification of payment status and reduce repeated document requests.
  • Provide step-by-step guidance in Somali and English, with assisted support for taxpayers who need it.
  • Begin with common small-business obligations, then expand to registration, filing and taxpayer dashboards.
02Social-norm communication
  • Communicate carefully that most surveyed citizens and businesses rejected the scenarios.
  • Connect fair taxation with visible public services and national development.
  • Engage female accountants, entrepreneurs and community leaders as pro-compliance voices.
  • Avoid exaggeration, accusation or any implication that the survey measures actual evasion rates.
03Transparency and equal treatment
  • Publish accessible quarterly summaries of revenue collection, spending priorities and selected service results.
  • Apply compliance rules visibly and consistently to small, large and politically connected taxpayers.
  • Publish taxpayer rights, procedures and appeal mechanisms.
  • Reduce unnecessary cash contact and discretionary handling through traceable processes.
04ICPAS and the profession
  • Help businesses maintain records, understand obligations and prepare accurate returns.
  • Provide taxpayer education, professional development and ethical guidance.
  • Convene dialogue between businesses, accountants and public institutions.
  • Repeat and expand the research to track attitudes and regional differences over time.

Evidence on attitudes, not observed evasion.

The cross-sectional study used fictional scenarios to reduce the sensitivity of directly asking respondents whether they personally evade tax.

168 individuals239 businessesApril 2026Five regionsFive-point tolerance scaleConvenience sampling27 unusable business responses excluded

Samples. The individual group is younger and highly educated. The business group is dominated by sole traders, trade and Hargeisa respondents; 78.2% report full tax registration.

Analysis. Descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, correlations, Welch t-tests and ANOVA were used. Significance indicates an association under test assumptions, not causation.

Interpretive caution: scenario judgements may differ from real behaviour. Social-desirability bias, convenience sampling, small subgroups and Hargeisa concentration limit population generalisation. The two scenarios are comparable, but not identical.

How to cite this report

Open a style and copy the institutional reference.

APA 7
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland. (2026). Tax evasion tolerance in Somaliland: An integrated survey of individual citizens and business operators. ICPAS.
Harvard
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland (ICPAS) (2026) Tax Evasion Tolerance in Somaliland: An Integrated Survey of Individual Citizens and Business Operators. Hargeisa: ICPAS.
Chicago
Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland. Tax Evasion Tolerance in Somaliland: An Integrated Survey of Individual Citizens and Business Operators. Hargeisa: ICPAS, 2026.
BibTeX
@report{icpas2026tax, title={Tax Evasion Tolerance in Somaliland: An Integrated Survey of Individual Citizens and Business Operators}, author={{Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Somaliland}}, institution={ICPAS}, address={Hargeisa, Somaliland}, year={2026}, month={May}}

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© 2026 Institute of Certified Public Accountants of SomalilandTax Evasion Tolerance Study · Interactive edition