Payment is the heart of businesses. For an online business, electronic-payment (e-payment) plays a significant role to expedite the transaction. Online or e-payment system is not crafted for business as merely profit-oriented but it isoffered to all, including government and other non-profit organisationinstitutions. Nowadays, it can be witnessed that there are various types of e-payment systems available to facilitate online selling and buying transactions. However, e-payment system at philanthropy institutions has received fairly little attention from the public. This is happening even though theseinst itutions have invested a lot of money on e-payment systems. Thus, this study attempts to identify types of e-payment systems at one of the Islamic philanthropic institutions in Malaysia and analyse the performance of e-payment in that institution. The result of this study is hoped to contribute to the body of knowledge particularly in terms of information technology and performance measurement in Islamic philanthropy institutions.

Payment is the heart of businesses. For an online business, electronic-payment (e-payment) plays a significant role to expedite the transaction. Online or e-payment system is not crafted for business as merely profit-oriented but it is offered to all, including government and other non-profit organisation institutions. Nowadays, it can be witnessed that there are various types of e-payment systems available to facilitate online selling and buying transactions. However, e-payment system at philanthropy institutions has received fairly little attention from the public. This is happening even though these institutions have invested a lot of money on e-payment systems. Thus, this study attempts to identify types of e-payment systems at one of the Islamic philanthropic institutions in Malaysia and analyse the performance of e-payment in that institution. The result of this study is hoped to contribute to the body of knowledge particularly in terms of information technology and performance measurement in Islamic philanthropy institutions.

Many Islamic countries are facing zakat governance issues including transparency, trust, inconsistency of zakat law with al-Quran and hadith, non-compliance and bureaucracy. Despite of the ongoing issues, little is known about zakat system in Islamic countries particularly the high-income Islamic countries. The high-income Islamic countries should be exemplary models to other Islamic countries as they have unlimited resources to build a dynamic zakat system that includes participation from renowned Islamic scholars to give opinions and fatwa on zakat law and the use of modern technologies to promote transparency and compliance. This study adopts a content analysis technique to analyse zakat system in seven high-income Islamic countries – Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The data of zakat governance, zakat collection, zakat distribution, transparency, use of modern technology, issues and recognitions for each country were collected and analysed. This study added value to the minimal zakat system literature in Islamic countries. It is hoped that a harmonized zakat system can be adopted by Islamic countries and a strong commitment by all Islamic countries members to help asnaf particularly those who live in the under-developed countries.

The global consensus on the threat of climate change risk leads to an agreement to mitigate higher greenhouse gas emissions and limit global mean temperature rise to below 2 ℃ and, ideally, below 1.5 ℃ by 2050. In achieving the mean temperature target, international organisations like the World Bank, Organisation of Economic Co-operation Development and United Nations strongly suggest that policymakers implement a carbon pricing policy. A carbon tax is a market-based policy that has gained attention from many policymakers to reduce carbon emissions and increase the government's revenue. Designing a feasible carbon tax framework is crucial to ensure effectiveness and public acceptability. However, policy design in developing countries may be more complicated than in developed countries due to insufficient income and resources, social inequity, and poverty. This paper discusses the features of a carbon tax and the dimensions of designing an effective carbon tax policy for developing nations. A simplified framework for carbon tax implementation in developing countries is provided. The framework should be a foundation for developing countries to implement and develop a feasible and acceptable carbon tax policy.

The recent collapse of several companies and high-profile frauds in the last two decades has called to question the integrity of the audit profession and resulted in a decline in shareholders' confidence in audit financial statement and the audit profession at large. This has called for the improvement in professional regulation and audit service quality in order to recover the confidence of investors and other users in the reliability of audited financial statement. To achieve this, this paper proposes a conceptual framework to investigate the role of individual auditor characteristics (auditor reputation, specialization, experience, and independence) on audit service quality by using a sample of all listed companies on the Libyan Stock Market (LSM). Evidence from previous studies indicated that the determinants of audit service quality should be more significant at the individual level. The technical abilities and individual characteristics of the external auditor are critical factors to improve and sustain audit service quality. This study argues that auditors with effective individual characteristics are more likely to provide high audit service quality.

Malaysia is one of the Islamic countries that integrate zakat in the tax system; Muslim individual taxpayers can minimize tax payment by claiming zakat paid as a tax rebate which is deducted from the amount of total income tax. Although zakat rebate has been applied in the tax system more than 20 years, there is lacking research on its effectiveness to increase zakat and tax payment compliance. This study is a step forward for more zakat rebate and the integration of zakat and tax research. The objective of this study is to examine Muslim individual taxpayers’ intention in claiming zakat as a tax rebate. This study adopts the variables in the Theory of Planned Behaviour (i.e. attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioural control) and include knowledge as the variables. The quantitative research methodology was applied by using a questionnaire. This study found that all variables have significant influence on Muslim individual taxpayers’ intention in claiming zakat payment as a tax rebate. The results of this research not only expand the minimal literature on the integration of zakat in the tax system, but also provide empirical evidence to the tax and zakat authorities in understanding the behaviour of Muslim individual taxpayers.

Several international organizations such as the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), United Nations (UN), and World Bank recommend that policymakers implement an environmental tax to reduce climate change, protect the environment and gain more income for governments. Effectiveness of the policy depends on a carefully designed framework, which essentially adopts the social and economic contextual of a country and public support. Researchers have been focusing on examining the factors that influence public acceptance of an environmental tax. This paper aims to systematically review the empirical studies using the RepOrting Standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES) protocol. The information is relevant for policy makers in designing a feasible and acceptable carbon tax policy. Furthermore, the paper provides suggestions for future research. Related articles were selected using two leading databases, namely Scopus and Science Direct, and one supporting database, namely Google Scholar. Thematic analysis was conducted on 60 articles and four main themes were derived with 32 subthemes. The analysis indicates that people are more supportive when they (i) are well informed about a policy’s effectiveness and the policy content, particularly the use of revenue, (ii) have high trust in the government, (iii) have a positive attitude toward protecting the environment, (iv) perceive the policy is fair in terms of costs distribution and social sharing, and (v) are concerned about the climate change issue.

Malaysia has a long history of environmental issues. The Malaysian government has implemented deterrent and supportive strategies to reduce the issue by penalising polluters and providing tax incentives to encourage green technology developments. However, these strategies are ineffective since the number of pollution issues keeps increasing, and the Malaysia Environmental Performance Index (EPI) 2020 score has dropped. Many countries have implemented carbon tax to mitigate some environmental issues following the recommendation by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. The carbon tax has proven to be an effective strategy not only to reduce environmental problems but also to increase government revenues. This conceptual paper aims to give a brief review of literature for future studies in implementing a carbon tax policy in Malaysia. It is hoped that the findings will assist the Malaysian government in implementing a carbon tax policy to reduce environmental issues and as a strategy to widen its tax base.

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that influenced business zakat compliance among small and medium entrepreneurs. The factors are role of zakat administrator, business profitability, length of business establishment and entrepreneurs’ zakat attitude. The study adopts mixed methods approach. 47 Muslims owners of small and medium enterprises participated in the study. They completed a survey and explained their business zakat compliance experience through interviewers. The survey data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney and logit regression analysis. Then, the interview data provided in-depth understanding about respondents’ zakat attitude and opinion on role of zakat administrator. The results show the majority (72.3 percent) of the respondents paid business zakat. The factors that influence zakat business compliance were the business owners’ zakat attitude and business profitability. The interview data supporeds the findings; respondents who paid zakat understood the responsibility and importance of business zakat payment. However, some of them regularly paid zakat directly to the poor and needy because they have doubts on zakat administrator’s credibility in distributing zakat to asnaf. On the other hand, respondents who did not pay zakat declared that did not know other types of zakat other than zakat fitr. This shows that the role of zakat administrator in promoting business zakat should be made more extensive. Zakat administrator also can introduce a scheme where zakat payers can personally distribute zakat to asnaf using the money they paid to zakat administrators. This could encourage entrepreneurs to pay zakat and increase the numbers of zakat payers.

In response to recent calls on a topic that has garnered the significant interest of many researchers in various disciplines, the social norms approach is used to explain factors that motivate taxpayers to comply with tax laws. Several theories attempt to explain the factors that drive the tax morale of taxpayers. Still, a substantial body of research found that social norms theory could provide an explanation about why some taxpayers might comply with tax laws while others do not. However, studies found mixed findings and relationships, and it is still not clear what factors motivate tax morale. This paper aims to explain the implementation of the social norms approach from previous studies, mainly on the relationship between personal norms, descriptive norms, injunctive norms, subjective norms, and tax morale. This paper presents a review of studies from social norms theoretical lens. The findings reveal that the social norms theory provides a suitable theoretical basis to explore tax morale. Indeed, all the factors until now identified as determinants of tax morale can be categorised as either internalised (personal norms) or externalised (descriptive norms, injunctive norms and subjective norms). The outcome calls for a more nuanced understanding of the effect of internal and external social norms dimensions on tax morale and how these norms emerged from the interactions with others and, consequently, affect tax morale. The significant contribution of this paper is that determining what drives tax morale can greatly assist governments in designing tax policies and their administration, particularly in developing countries where compliance rates are low. This is the first study that adopted the social norms theory to explain the factors that influence tax morale from four different norms taxonomies.

Allah makes this earth a shared place for humans and other living creatures, including water, air and soil, to grow, harness and interact. As the superior creation, humans play significant roles in protecting the earth from destruction, ensuring its sustainability and necessitating it as a safe place for future generations. Indeed, poor human behaviours and awareness of preserving the earth have caused countless negative environmental impacts (e.g. landslides, floods, bushfires, haze, deforestation, pollution), and climate changes warrant laws and punitive controls. Many Muslim countries have introduced environmental tax as one of the tools to punish polluters and change their behaviour. While Islam allows tax to be collected by the government to develop a country, little is known in the context of environmental tax. This paper aims to analyse the Islamic perspectives on environmental taxes. A qualitative research methodology was adopted by thematic analysis of published books, articles and research papers. The analysis shows that while there are numerous research articles on Islam and the environment, only one empirical study (Al-Rawi et al., 2022) examines the Islamic perspectives on environmental tax. The study found that Islamic scholars have different opinions about environmental tax. Those on the supporting side explain that the environment considers a penalty or fine for causing damage to society, which makes it justifiable in Islam. However, the implementation must be carefully designed to ensure fairness and avoid unnecessary burdens to the public. More research should be undertaken to gather more opinions from the experts and compare other types of taxes permissible in Islam.

This study investigates public personal traits and demographic factors influencing their acceptance of the implementation of carbon tax policy in Malaysia. Understanding the public’s acceptance behaviour becomes crucial as carbon tax gains attention in developing countries. Through an online survey of 566 respondents, the research employs multiple regression analysis, t-test and one-way analysis of variance to examine the relationships. The results indicate that the carbon tax policy receives positive support from the public, who perceive carbon tax as an effective policy to reduce carbon emissions, those willing to pay more to protect the environment, those who recognise climate change as a serious issue and the Chinese community. These findings fill a gap in the environmental taxation literature for developing countries, offering insights for the Malaysian government to formulate effective strategies for public support. It is imperative for the government to consistently disseminate information to the public and create awareness through mass media regarding the serious issue of climate change and the effectiveness of a carbon tax to mitigate it. Regardless of the political party in power, adopting a carbon tax should be prioritised as a national agenda to maintain the country’s economic, social, and environmental sustainability to demonstrate the government’s unwavering commitment.

In the digital age, crowdfunding has emerged as a prominent way of raising funds, embraced by entrepreneurs and project owners who seek financial backing for their ventures. Through crowdfunding platforms, certain individuals have witnessed the success of campaigns that draw significant funds, enabling the realisation of their projects. However, it's essential to know that not all crowdfunding efforts are equal. While some campaigns may struggle to meet their funding goals, others exceed expectations by a considerable margin. Like other online platforms, trust plays a crucial role in establishing and nurturing relationships within crowdfunding campaigns. Project owners seek confidence that donations contributed by supporters for their social projects are used for their intended purposes. Additionally, the quality of projects has a substantial influence. Hence, the primary objectives of this study are to investigate how project quality (video and logo) could potentially influence crowd trust when considering donations. By examining these factors, we aim to gain valuable insights into the dynamics of crowdfunding campaigns. Using a sample of 420 participants residing in the Klang Valley, this study empirically demonstrated that project quality significantly contributes to enhancing crowd trust. The findings presented in this paper hold the potential to offer valuable insights to project owners aiming to augment their funding goals within crowdfunding projects.

Majority of previous studies are empirical, and researchers have no agreement regarding the factors that affect the compliance of tax by individual taxpayers. The purpose of this study is to review, consolidate and integrate the findings of previous studies to identify the factors that affect the tax compliance. More than 130 studies were identified, screened and refined. As a result, a total of 32 articles were included in this study. The articles were analyzed, and frequency analysis was conducted to identify the factors, theories, countries, methodological approach, sample size, and chronology of studies. The findings indicate that attitude, subjective norms, fairness, tax knowledge, trust, tax complexity, moral intensity are among the most important factors. The theory of Planned Behaviour and Fairness theory are the most used theories in the literature of tax compliance. Malaysia received the largest share of studies followed by Austria. Studies in developing countries outperformed the studies in developed ones. Majority of the studies are quantitative followed by experimental and mix methods. Decision makers can utilize the findings of this study to improve tax compliance.

Trust in government is a significant factor influencing the public acceptability of environmental tax. Without trust, implementing and sustaining a new tax policy is challenging due to public resistance. However, gaining trust from the public is even more challenging in developing countries where corruption is a common issue. Despite the risk of policy rejection, many developing countries, including Malaysia, are adopting the carbon tax as a policy to reduce carbon emissions. This has raised the question of the impact of trust in the government on public acceptability for carbon tax implementation in Malaysia. Another critical concern is identifying the predictors of trust in government, to which researchers have given less attention. Three main features of good governance—accountability, integrity, and competence—were examined as the predictors of trust in government. A nationwide survey in Malaysia was conducted using an online questionnaire, and 566 respondents completed the survey. The data were analysed using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) via Amos. The results show that trust in the government is influenced by the government’s accountability, integrity, and competence. In contrast with many past studies, trust in the government does not influence Malaysian acceptance behaviour. Instead, only the government’s accountability influences the acceptance of carbon tax implementation among the public. The public is concerned about the government’s spending; hence, the government must be transparent in its spending and redistributing the tax revenue to the public must be the top priority to gain public trust in implementing a carbon tax policy.

Existing literature stresses the importance of socio-economic factors when aiming to increase the willingness of taxpayers to pay their tax obligations. There have been insufficient studies on socio-psychological factors in tax morale research. This study focuses on trust in tax authorities and tax fairness factors that may explain the reasons why people pay taxes. The purpose of this conceptual review is to analyze and synthesize the theoretical and conceptual frameworks of trust in tax authorities and tax fairness in the tax morale context. Trust in tax authorities refers to the level of confidence taxpayers put in tax authorities based on how well they perform their duties. Tax fairness refers to taxpayers who perceive paying taxes as a fair process in terms of the treatments and benefits they receive for the taxes paid. Tax morale is defined as the intrinsic motivation of taxpayers to pay their fair share of taxes. Using the Social Psychology of Taxation (SPT) and Ibnu Khaldun's Theory of Taxation (IKTK), the interrelationships between trust in tax authorities, tax fairness, and tax morale are critically evaluated and analyzed. The review of relevant tax morale literature is conducted to identify any research gaps, inconsistencies, or ambiguities. It is interesting to note that there were mixed findings in terms of the effect of tax fairness on tax morale. Some studies have demonstrated positive relationships, while others have found negative ones. It has been discovered that taxpayers’ trust in tax administrations would increase if tax authorities treated taxpayers with consideration and respect, applied clear and fair procedures to all taxpayers, and assisted them in meeting their tax obligations. A psychological contract aptly captures the interaction between tax authorities and taxpayers, which will manifest in a willingness to pay taxes. Further investigation needs to be carried out in order to statistically validate the direct and indirect relationships between trust in tax authorities, tax fairness, and tax morale.