Introducing Formal Tax Education in Secondary School: A Survey on Malaysian Public’s Perception Rani Diana Othman 1 , Zubaidah Ismail 2 , Nurul Hidayah Ahamad Nawawi 3 {diana067@uitm.edu.my 1 , z.ismail.ecu.edu.au 2 , nurulhidayah@uitm.edu.my 3 } Universiti Teknologi MARA, Melaka, Malaysia 1 Edith Cowan University, Western Australia 2 Universiti Teknologi MARA, Melaka, Malaysia 3 Abstract. Taxpayers’ compliance level of a country reflects its citizens’ knowledge about taxation system and, their connection and trust towards the government. However, low compliance level of individuals’ and companies has raised the question of the adequacy and effectiveness of citizen tax knowledge in Malaysia and whether tax education is warranted. This study is an overview on the Malaysian public’s perception towards introducing formal tax education in secondary schools. First, it looks at current taxpayer’s tax learning experience and their opinion on whether a formal approach in teaching taxation should be introduced. Second, this study also evaluates their opinion, on hindsight, if early tax education would have benefited them when they became liable to tax. Third, the public’s perception on the importance of taxation as compared to other related financial literacy knowledge is also evaluated. Findings shows that more than 90% of respondents agreed that early and formal tax education will provide them and future taxpayers with better understanding of the taxation system and their responsibility towards taxes. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education, the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) and other related tax agencies should work together towards formally establishing tax education curriculum in secondary school in order to enhance future taxpayers’ consciousness towards taxes. Keywords: Tax compliance, tax education, secondary school, curriculum, Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia 1 Introduction Tax non-compliance is an everlasting phenomenon faced by all tax administrators in the world as it can never be completely eradicated. Among factors that caused tax non-compliance are lacking of confidence, lacking of awareness, limited enforcement activities, fear of punishment, perception on the fairness of tax system and also morale factors. In order to overcome these issues, more countries have developed various tax education strategies in reaching out to inform and engage not only present, but also future taxpayers. These strategies were shared in Building Tax Culture, Compliance and Citizenship: A Global Source Book on Taxpayer Education [1]. Tax education is perceived as the best and cost-effective way to overcome tax non-compliance due to the fact that, combating tax evasion or chasing potential taxpayer with minimal contribution would likely drain more resources and costs more than the benefit it will bring. Tax education will also bring long-lasting effect since education is able to strengthen feelings of responsibility and pride towards taxpayers’ contribution to the country. ICO-ASCNITY 2019, November 01-03, Padang, Indonesia Copyright © 2020 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.1-11-2019.2293991