Abstract

This paper extends our previous study by discussing in more details the composition and functions of the Board of Review in Hong Kong. We conduct a trend analysis on the Board’s decisions by examining three recent informal tax cases relating to compliance behavior for individual taxpayers in Hong Kong. We find that the more recent Board’s decisions are quite consistent with our previous findings. The level of penalty tax levied increases with the intention of the taxpayers to avoid tax, the magnitude of tax undercharged and the poor attitude of taxpayers. Despite the regular changes in the composition of the Board members, consistency in the Board’s decisions may be explained by the following reasons: there is no change in principle or in spirit in making decisions, there is no new development in the penalty policy and the Board has been adopting the decisions of precedent Board cases in similar situations.

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