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Import Tax Evasion in Cross-Border E-commerce

Authors: Abhinav Anand; Souvik Dutta; Prithwiraj Mukherjee;

Import Tax Evasion in Cross-Border E-commerce

Abstract

Cross-border e-commerce is increasingly important today. Unfortunately, this sector involves widespread under-declaration of goods' valuation (selling price) to avoid import taxes. Customs brokers play a crucial role in this value chain by ensuring proper declarations at customs, and pay stiff penalties if the retailer is caught under-reporting value in an audit. We illuminate the incentives of import tax evasion by developing a theoretical model of an optimal contract between a customs broker (principal) and an overseas retailer (agent) who may expend resources to under-value his goods, but risks getting caught in an audit. We show that fraud is inevitable at all valuations. We further show that increasing audit accuracy lowers fraud but fails to eliminate it. Our model leads to the following policy prescriptions: (a) higher import duties lead to more fraud, and (b) penalties imposed on the broker are more effective in reducing under-reporting than those imposed on the retailer. Our results can help explain observed trends in cross-border e-commerce.

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
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