Entrepreneurs and malpractice in tax management: an empirical investigation in germany

Nascent entrepreneurs face multiple challenges after starting their business. One is dealing with obligations from taxation. Entrepreneurs suddenly need to take care of taxpaying themselves, including the duty of implementing and running various tax relevant systems. Germany is known for one of the most complex legislations on taxation. In this explorative study, we try to identify the most challenging areas the field of taxation. Therefore we have analyzed several web forums for entrepreneurs and questioned 56 tax consultants and eight tax inspectors. Descriptive results are presented. Entrepreneurs with no vocational training have more problems with taxpaying than all other educational groups. Migrant entrepreneurs do not face significant more difficulties than German entrepreneurs, according to the tax consultants. Tax officer have a different point of view, they state that handling taxation is a bigger challenge for migrant entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs in the gastronomy industry are most likely to get in conflict with tax legislation. Entrepreneurs need more advice on certain areas of taxpaying than on others. Entrepreneurship education should pay close attention to those areas.