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Effect of Personal Tax Education on Tax Awareness among Accounting Education Students in Nigeria

Abstract

Tax awareness is an important component of accounting education because future accounting professionals are expected to understand the purpose of taxation, basic tax obligations, applicable tax procedures, and the importance of compliance with tax laws and regulations. Personal tax education provides students with relevant knowledge about individual taxation and may improve their understanding of taxable income, tax obligations, tax administration, filing procedures, allowable deductions, tax reliefs, taxpayer rights and responsibilities, and the consequences of non-compliance. However, Accounting Education students in Nigeria may have limited practical exposure to personal taxation because of inadequate tax-related instructional materials, limited practical exercises, and insufficient integration of contemporary tax administration practices into accounting education. Personal Tax Education may therefore provide students with structured opportunities to understand and apply basic personal tax concepts and procedures. Against this background, this study investigates the effect of Personal Tax Education on tax awareness among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. The study will be anchored on the Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior, and Human Capital Theory. The Theory of Planned Behavior explains how students’ attitudes toward taxation, perceived social expectations, and perceived behavioural control may influence their understanding and willingness to comply with personal tax obligations. Human Capital Theory emphasizes the importance of investing in relevant knowledge and skills to improve students’ competence, productivity, and preparedness for professional responsibilities. The Tax Compliance Behaviour perspective provides an additional basis for understanding how tax knowledge and perceptions of tax obligations may influence awareness and compliance intentions. Collectively, these theoretical perspectives provide a suitable framework for explaining how Personal Tax Education may influence tax awareness among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. The study will adopt a quantitative quasi-experimental research design. The population will comprise Accounting Education students enrolled in selected Nigerian universities and polytechnics. A multistage sampling technique will be used to select institutions, departments, levels of study, classes, and eligible students. Data will be collected using structured questionnaires, personal tax-awareness assessment scales, tax knowledge tests, scenario-based tax questions, practical tax exercises, tax-document interpretation tasks, and pre-test and post-test assessments. Personal Tax Education will be assessed using indicators such as personal income tax concepts, taxable income, employment income, business income, investment income, tax residency, taxpayer identification, tax registration, tax identification numbers, tax returns, tax filing procedures, tax assessment, tax payment procedures, tax deductions, allowable deductions, tax reliefs, tax exemptions, tax rates, tax bands, tax liabilities, tax credits where applicable, withholding tax awareness, Pay-As-You-Earn tax awareness, employer tax deductions, self-assessment procedures, tax authorities, taxpayer rights, taxpayer responsibilities, tax deadlines, tax documentation, tax receipts, tax payment evidence, electronic tax services, online tax registration, electronic filing, electronic payment, tax information sources, tax penalties, interest on unpaid tax, consequences of non-compliance, tax evasion, tax avoidance, taxpayer confidentiality, tax dispute procedures, objection procedures, tax appeals, tax compliance, tax planning, ethical tax behaviour, and practical application of personal tax rules. Tax awareness will be assessed using indicators such as students’ ability to identify taxable income, recognize personal tax obligations, understand tax registration requirements, identify relevant tax authorities, understand taxpayer identification procedures, recognize tax filing requirements, understand tax-payment procedures, identify tax deductions and reliefs, understand applicable tax rates, recognize tax liabilities, understand Pay-As-You-Earn deductions, recognize self-assessment requirements, identify tax deadlines, understand tax documentation requirements, recognize tax payment evidence, identify reliable tax information sources, understand electronic tax services, recognize tax penalties, understand the consequences of tax non-compliance, distinguish tax evasion from legitimate tax planning, recognize taxpayer rights and responsibilities, understand tax dispute procedures, identify appropriate tax compliance practices, and demonstrate general personal tax knowledge. Descriptive statistics will be used to summarize students’ demographic and academic characteristics, exposure to Personal Tax Education, sources of tax information, and levels of tax awareness. Inferential statistical techniques, including paired and independent t-tests, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), chi-square tests, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis where appropriate, will be used to determine the effect of Personal Tax Education on tax awareness. Where a quasi-experimental design is adopted, tax-awareness scores before and after exposure to Personal Tax Education may be compared with those of a control group receiving conventional accounting instruction to determine changes associated with the intervention. Diagnostic tests will also be conducted to assess the reliability, validity, and robustness of the findings. The study is expected to find that Personal Tax Education has a significant positive effect on tax awareness among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. Students exposed to structured Personal Tax Education are expected to demonstrate improved understanding of personal tax obligations, tax procedures, taxpayer responsibilities, and the importance of tax compliance. Education on taxable income may improve students’ ability to recognize income that may be subject to taxation. Employment-income activities may strengthen students’ understanding of taxation of salaries and wages. Business-income exercises may improve awareness of personal tax obligations arising from individual business activities. Investment-income activities may strengthen students’ understanding of the tax implications of relevant investment earnings. Tax-residency education may improve students’ understanding of factors relevant to personal tax obligations. Taxpayer-registration activities may strengthen awareness of registration requirements. Tax-identification exercises may improve students’ understanding of taxpayer identification procedures. Tax-return exercises may strengthen students’ knowledge of filing requirements. Tax-assessment activities may improve students’ understanding of how tax liabilities are determined. Tax-payment exercises may strengthen students’ awareness of appropriate payment procedures. Tax-deduction and relief activities may improve students’ understanding of legitimate reductions in taxable income or tax liability where applicable. Tax-exemption activities may strengthen students’ ability to distinguish exempt income from taxable income. Tax-rate and tax-band exercises may improve students’ understanding of how tax liabilities are calculated. Pay-As-You-Earn activities may strengthen awareness of employment-related tax deductions. Self-assessment exercises may improve students’ understanding of personal tax responsibilities where applicable. Tax-authority education may help students identify the appropriate institutions responsible for tax administration. Taxpayer-rights and responsibilities activities may improve students’ understanding of their obligations and protections under tax administration. Tax-deadline activities may strengthen students’ awareness of timely filing and payment requirements. Tax-documentation exercises may improve students’ ability to identify and retain relevant tax records. Tax-receipt and payment-evidence activities may strengthen awareness of evidence of tax payment. Electronic tax-service activities may improve students’ familiarity with digital tax administration. Online registration and electronic-filing activities may strengthen students’ understanding of technology-supported tax procedures. Electronic-payment exercises may improve awareness of digital tax-payment options. Tax-information activities may help students distinguish reliable tax information from inaccurate or misleading sources. Tax-penalty education may strengthen students’ understanding of the financial consequences of non-compliance. Education on unpaid-tax interest may improve awareness of the consequences associated with delayed tax payments. Tax-evasion activities may strengthen students’ ability to distinguish unlawful non-compliance from legitimate tax planning. Tax-avoidance and tax-planning discussions may improve students’ understanding of lawful approaches to managing tax obligations. Taxpayer-confidentiality education may strengthen awareness of the responsible handling of tax information. Tax-dispute activities may improve students’ understanding of available procedures for resolving disagreements with tax authorities. Objection and appeal exercises may strengthen students’ awareness of mechanisms for challenging tax assessments where appropriate. Tax-compliance activities may improve students’ understanding of timely registration, filing, payment, and record keeping. Ethical tax-behaviour education may strengthen students’ awareness of their professional and civic responsibilities regarding taxation. Practical tax scenarios may improve students’ ability to apply tax concepts to realistic personal financial situations. However, the effectiveness of Personal Tax Education may be constrained by inadequate tax-related instructional materials, limited access to current tax information, frequent changes in tax policies and regulations, insufficient practical tax exercises, inadequate lecturer training, limited use of electronic tax platforms during instruction, large class sizes, limited instructional time, students’ low interest in taxation, misinformation from informal sources, and weak integration of practical tax education into Accounting Education curricula. The study therefore expects structured, current, practical, technology-supported, and adequately supervised Personal Tax Education to contribute significantly to improved tax awareness among Accounting Education students in Nigeria. The study is expected to contribute to the literature on Personal Tax Education, tax awareness, tax knowledge, personal income taxation, tax compliance, tax administration, tax education, taxpayer responsibilities, taxpayer rights, tax filing, tax payment, tax registration, taxpayer identification, taxable income, tax deductions, tax reliefs, tax exemptions, Pay-As-You-Earn taxation, self-assessment, electronic tax administration, digital tax services, tax documentation, tax compliance behaviour, tax ethics, accounting education, practical accounting education, professional competence, financial literacy, Accounting Education students, Nigerian universities, Nigerian polytechnics, and taxation in Nigeria. The findings will provide useful information to the Federal Inland Revenue Service, state tax authorities, National Universities Commission, National Board for Technical Education, university and polytechnic administrators, Accounting Education departments, accounting educators, curriculum developers, professional accounting bodies, employers, policymakers, and other stakeholders regarding strategies for improving students’ tax knowledge and awareness. The study will also provide evidence-based recommendations for integrating practical Personal Tax Education into Accounting Education programmes, updating tax-related instructional materials, incorporating current tax laws and procedures into classroom activities, strengthening students’ understanding of electronic tax services, providing realistic tax scenarios and documentation exercises, improving access to reliable tax information, promoting ethical tax behaviour, and strengthening students’ preparedness for future personal tax responsibilities and professional accounting practice in Nigeria.

Keywords: Personal Tax Education, tax awareness, tax knowledge, personal income tax, tax compliance, tax administration, tax education, taxable income, tax filing, tax payment, taxpayer identification, Pay-As-You-Earn, electronic tax services, accounting education, Accounting Education students, Nigeria.