Skłonność do unikania i uchylania się od opodatkowania w świetle teorii moralnego rozwoju Kohlberga – zagadnienia etyczne w praktyce rachunkowości
The tendency to tax avoidance and tax evasion in the light of Kohlberg’s theory of moral development – ethical issues in accounting practice

Summary/Abstract: Modern accounting professionals are in charge of tools that, apart from enabling them to keep business accounts, may also be used to distort the picture of the financial situation of an entity, as well as to manipulate tax settlements. Therefore, accounting professionals not only should possess the necessary knowledge, but also should apply ethical standards in their work. These two components guarantee the correctness of tax settlements and the faithful representation of economic reality in the accounting system. The aim of this article is to present the results of analysis of the frequency of making accounting choices aimed at reducing the tax burden through breaking ethical or legal norms. In addition, the relationship between the tendency to make decisions leading to tax avoidance or tax evasion and the reasons behind it (according to Kohlberg’s theory of moral development) have been analysed. The results indicate higher frequency of decisions aimed at lowering tax liabilities due to the failure to follow ethical standards than due to breaking ethical and legal standards at the same time. It was also pointed out that the tendency to make unethical (and illegal) decisions was associated with low levels of moral reasoning, which confirms the importance of the postulate to supplement accounting education with accountability and ethical awareness issues.

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