Tax compliance at a crossroads: a study into issues of tax policy, compliance and administration in connection with the income taxation of collaborative economy platform workers

Predicated on empowering individuals to exploit the idle capacity of personal assets with a view to generating income, the collaborative economy catalyzed the advent of a generation of para-entrepreneurship. Existing income tax compliance frameworks fail to accommodate the shifting paradigms of individual income-generating activity brought about by the collaborative economy. Consequently, income derived by individual service providers in the collaborative economy is routinely under-reported and ultimately under-taxed. This thesis studies the income tax compliance issues associated with collaborative economy individual service providers and reflects on possible approaches for safeguarding the effective taxation of income derived by these individuals, arguing for a robust view towards the determinants of non-compliance at play.