Taxation and Technology: Technology Readiness of Malaysian Tax Officers in Petaling Jaya Branch Available to Purchase

The Inland Revenue Board Malaysia has just launched the electronic tax filing system. To date, there has been little scholarly study in examining people’s state of technology readiness. Technology readiness (TR) is defined as people’s propensity to embrace and use new technologies for accomplishing goals in home life and at work (Parasuraman, 2000). Drawing on insights from the literature, this study attempts to adopt the Technology Readiness Index (TRI) of Parasuraman and Colby (2001) in examining the state of technology readiness of tax officers. A survey questionnaire was personally administered on 210 tax officers in Malaysia. A total of 187 usable questionnaires were collected. The survey found that although Malaysian tax officers are optimistic towards new technologies, they experienced a considerable level of discomfort with new technologies. Notably, male tax officers displayed more optimism than their female counterparts. There were no significant differences between gender and age on innovativeness, discomfort and insecurity dimensions. Based on the TRI, the respondents were segmented into explorers (6 per cent), pioneers (39 per cent), skeptics (35 per cent), paranoids (16 per cent) and technology laggards (4 per cent). This study provides timely and useful information for the tax authorities and has implications for tax administration and policy development.