Level of awareness of tax policy among Small and Medium Entities in South Africa: A scoping review

Abstract

This study aims to find out how much small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa know about tax policies. SMEs help fight poverty, create jobs, and grow the economy. But many face big challenges, especially with complex tax rules. Even with these difficulties, SMEs must still follow tax laws and pay their taxes. The study uses a scoping review, which collects and reviews past research to understand how aware SMEs are of tax policies. It used set rules to include or exclude studies and collected data from sources like Science Direct, Google Scholar, ResearchGate, and others. Many SMEs in South Africa have low awareness of tax policies. There is a clear link between tax knowledge and the ability to follow tax rules. SMEs need specific knowledge to meet tax obligations. To be tax-compliant, they must first understand tax laws. There is a serious lack of tax knowledge among SMEs. SARS should boost efforts to educate SMEs about tax policies. This will help improve tax compliance. This study adds to the research on small business taxation and encourages more discussion and studies in this area.