1 Dynamics of Increasing Individual Taxpayer Compliance During The Covid-19 Pandemic Nyimas Wardatul Afiqoh 1 , Syaiful 2 , Muhammad Aufa 3 afiqohnyimas@umg.ac.id 1 , syaiful@umg.ac.id 2 , aufa@umg.ac.id 3 1,2,3 University of Muhammadiyah Gresik Abstract. This study aims to uncover and explain the enhancement of taxpayers during the Covid-19 pandemic and identify the steps that can be applied in tax incentive policies in order to improve taxpayer compliance. This research approach uses qualitative by using a phenomenological approach, which aims to observe the human life experiences (Muhadjir, 2000). There are pros and cons related to the implementation of PMK No. 09 of 2021 regarding to the Tax Incentives for Taxpayers which Affected by the Corona Virus Disease 2019 Pandemic which will affect State revenues (especially tax revenues) which can reflect taxpayer compliance. The subject of this study are business actors who have a fixed and regular income annualized not more than Rp. 200,000,000,- (Two Hundred Million) as required in the implementation of PMK no.09 of 2021 and tax consultants with the result that the use of policy facilities provided by the government is still very minimum by the reason that the lack of information from the benefits of tax incentives to the public. Keywords: Tax incentives, MSME Tax, Phenomenology 1 Introduction The role of taxes as the most important income for state revenue has become common issue. In order to maximize state revenue from the tax sector, the government actively launched various policies. In 1983, Indonesia implemented the Self-Assessment System (SAS) as a tax collection system. The consequence of implementing the self-assessment system adopted by Indonesia is a high dependence on taxpayer compliance. In fact, in approximately three decades of self-assessment system implemented, the compliance of taxpayers who are the main role of success has not shown satisfying results (Damayanti, et al. 2015). When referring to some research results of the implemetationn of SAS in Indonesia, the results actually shows a contradiction between the purpose of implementing this system and its reality. According to Darmayasa and Aneswari (2016), in SAS there is a chance that is open for the practice of tax evasion. The Central Statistics Agency noted that as of August 2021 the number of Indonesians working reached 93.51% (131,050,520,000 people). Based on this data, BPS concluded that only about 29.4% of the total number of Individual Workers and incomes in Indonesia has been registered as Taxpayers (WP). According to Darussalam in Bisnis.com only about 37% of taxpayers have reported a Notification Letter (SPT), they have not seen the material side of their tax return. This shows the low tax compliance in Indonesia when compared to other countries. Over past recent decade, Indonesia has been working to improve its existing tax system to increase tax revenues (Arnold, 2012). Recently, a policy was officially launched which is a form of tax reform, namely incentive policies and tax relaxation. The publishing of PMK No. 09 of 2021 concerning Tax Incentives for Taxpayers Affected by the Corona Virus Disease Pandemic 2019 was widely discussed, causing pros and cons. Some say that tax incentives are the right move to encourage revenue from the tax sector. Some others consider that tax incentives will only contribute to short-term revenues and another argument is that Indonesia has experienced failures in providing tax incentives. The application of tax incentives should be constantly evaluated for the effectiveness. Keep in mind that before the tax incentive policy, to increase state income from the tax sector, a tax amnesty policy was implemented in Indonesia, namely in 1984 and 2016. At that time, the implementation of the tax amnesty policy failed. Ragimun (2014) stated that the failure of the tax amnesty policy at that time was caused by unsupportive facilities and infrastructure. Meanwhile, Tambunan (2015) added that the absence of strict law enforcement after the tax amnesty was a trigger for failure to implement this policy. We must learn from the failures that have been occured in the application of tax amnesty. The current practice of tax incentive policies has shown satisfying results. Data bps.go.id income tax revenue in 2019 (Rp.772,265.70 M) to 2020 (Rp. 670,379.50 M) decreased while in 2020 (Rp. 683,774.60 M). Based on this data, it can be concluded that the enhancement of income tax revenue during the pandemic (from 2020 to 2021) can be influenced by the existence of tax incentive policies even though it has not seen significantly increased. It can be know it has been increased by 2%. In addition to increase state revenue from the tax sector, the tax incentive policy is actually to increase taxpayer compliance. With the contradiction of implementing this policy, the hope is that even in conditions affected by Covid-19, there will still be compliance of taxpayers in fulfilling their tax obligations. ICBAE 2022, August 10-11, Purwokerto, Indonesia Copyright © 2022 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.10-8-2022.2320862