Administrative procedures as tax enforcement tools
研究中国企业所得税中行政程序如何影响企业逃税，发现预缴和退税程序实际上起到了执法工具的作用，改革取消这些程序后逃税大幅增加。
We study how common administrative procedures affect firm tax evasion. We begin with the counter-intuitive observation that many firms bunch above, rather than below, large notches in China’s corporate income tax. Cross-sectional patterns suggest that administrative procedures in the prepayment and refund system served as de facto enforcement tools that prevented some firms from accessing the reduced tax rates below the notches. Following a regulatory reform that eliminated these procedures, bunching below the notches increased dramatically. The results imply a trade-off between reducing administrative barriers and allowing much taxpayer non-compliance in low-compliance environments.