Voluntary Compliance


Voluntary Compliance

1. The principle that all taxpayer pay their taxes according to the law. That is, the IRS or other tax agency assumes that one has paid the appropriate amount of taxes unless something looks wrong on the tax return of the person or company.

2. A situation in which a person or company complies with a government request before it becomes an order. Voluntary compliance gives the person or company more leeway in how strictly the request is enforced; it can also be a good public relations move. Perhaps most importantly, voluntary compliance does not create the precedent that a government can simply order the release of documents, records, or anything else.