Purpose The oil and gas sector are among the nonrenewable energy sectors that contribute immensely to the economic development of more than 98 countries around the globe. Nigeria depends largely on revenue from oil and gas. Unfortunately, oil and gas companies mostly evade taxes. This study aims to investigate the effects of variables subsumed in the economic deterrence theory of Allingham and Sandmo (1972), which comprise (tax rate, penalty and detection probability) with one additional variable royalty rates (RR) on petroleum profit tax compliance (PPTC). Design/methodology/approach The study used a survey to collect data from 300 local and multi-national oil and gas companies in Nigeria. SPSS version 25 and partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) version 3.8 were used to analyze the data. Findings The results reveal that there is a negatively significant relationship between tax rate and RR and PPTC. The findings also show a positive and significant relationship between penalty and detection probability and PPTC. Originality/value The implication of the current study is that the current tax rate and RR are determinants of PPTC in Nigeria. Policymakers, in collaboration with the tax authority, should revisit these variables to enhance the level of PPTC, which could lead to an overall improvement in the country’s tax revenue.

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Taxation research has received considerable attention from many scholars, practitioners and policymakers across the globe. Many scholars have also conducted research on taxation in the Malaysian context. However, papers that track the trends of such research are scanty in the existing literature. The aim of this study is to review the trend and frequencies of published literature on taxation in Malaysia based on the Scopus database using the search term “Malaysia and tax”. The design of the study is bibliometric analysis. As of 23rd September 2020, a total of 88 documents were retrieved and analysed using Excel, Hazing’s Publish or Perish and VOSviewer software. Based on the standard bibliometric indicators, this paper reports the research papers and source types, years and language of publications, subject area, most active institutions, most active sources’ titles, keywords, authorship, abstract, title analysis and citation analysis. Findings revealed that there is an increase in growth rate of literature on studies related to taxation in the Malaysian context from 1977 to 2020 published in the Scopos database. The publications reached an all-time peak in 2016 to 2017 but significantly dropped in 2018 and 2019 based on the data retrieved from the Scopus database. The findings further show that Universiti Teknologi MARA is the most influential institution with 18.18% of the total documents retrieved, followed by Universiti Utara Malaysia with 9.1% respectively. Additional findings of the study show that Advance Science Letters is the highest source title with 14.71% of the published documents. The finding also indicates that Adhikari, Derashid and Zhang (2006) are the most influential authors with 187 citations as at 23rd September 2020. The research is limited to the literatures published in Scopus database, other database were not covered in this study. Malaysian policymakers should provide more research grants to tax practitioners and academicians to increase the level of publications in this field.

Purpose This study aims to validate the royalty rate measurement scale by using rigorous scale validation procedures. Design/methodology/approach Evaluation of reliability and validity of the measures of royalty rate was performed through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using SPSS version 25 and PLS-SEM version 3.8. Findings The results provide evidence that the royalty rate measurement scale has achieved reliability and validity criteria. Research limitations/implications Consequently, policymakers, practitioners and researchers can adopt this scale to assess the royalty rate in other energy sectors where royalty arrangements exist in different jurisdictions across the globe. Practical implications The practical contributions of the study are threefold. First, the validated scale presented in Table IV can serve as a checklist for oil and gas producing countries while assessing the stringiness or otherwise of their royalty rates. Second, the validated scale can be used to assess the perception of oil and gas companies with regards to the royalty rate as whether the rate is too high and worrisome or is acceptable. Finally, it could also be used to assess the role of regulatory bodies in assessing royalty rates while dealing with multinational and local oil companies. Eventually, the scale can assist policymakers across the globe to adapt in investment decision-making, particularly regarding royalty arrangement. Originality/value This study undoubtedly builds the existing literature and contributes to the subject area; by implication, the validated scale will assist host oil and gas countries with stringent royalty rate to revise the royalty policy in such a way to ensure neutrality, thereby not chasing away the current investors or discouraging prospective ones from investing in their oil and gas industry.