Effect of Tax Knowledge on the Alternative Dispute Resolution among Three Star Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya

Any good tax system requires tax dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms. A dispute can occur where the tax authority and the tax payers have varied in views on tax payer liability. Alternative dispute resolution is a voluntary, interactive and mediated dialogue between a taxpayer and the Commissioner about a tax dispute. Globally it is recommended that at least 80% of tax disputes should be resolved through Alternative Dispute Resolution. Kenya introduced the Alternative Dispute Resolution framework in July 2015. The purpose of this study was to establish the effect of tax knowledge on the Alternative Dispute Resolution, among three star Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya. The specific objective of this study was to establish effects of fiscal tax knowledge on the alternative dispute resolution among three star Hotels in Mombasa County. The theories that anchored this study included; conflict resolution theory, ability-to-pay tax theory, cost of services theory and the benefit theory of taxation. A descriptive survey study design was be used. Data was therefore obtained from a sample made of forty six (46). The study made use of questionnaires for data collection. The researcher sought a letter of introduction from the university authority, which he used to seek a research permit from the National Council for Science, Technology and Innovation. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25 was used in analyzing the data. Further, the Regression analysis was used to examine the effect of tax knowledge on the Alternative Dispute Resolution among three star hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya. The study concluded fiscal tax knowledge studied had significant effect on the alternative dispute resolution among three star Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya as indicated by the strong coefficient of correlation and a p-value which is less than 0.05.The overall effect of the analyzed factors was very high as indicated by the coefficient of determination. The study found out that Fiscal tax knowledge has significant impact on tax dispute resolution. It is therefore recommended that hotel owners, KRA from ADR section and tax consultants device ways to be more visible, intervene and participate at all times in cases relating to tax disputes. This study focused on the effect of tax knowledge on the Alternative Dispute Resolution among three star Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya. This study recommended that a further study be carried out on other factors such as hospitality culture; technology complexity among others that might have effect on the Alternative Dispute Resolution among three star Hotels in Mombasa County, Kenya.