Name: Sarvjot Dhunna
Country: India

Year: 2026
Volume: Volume No: 13, Issue No: 1, Year: 2026
Page Number: 533-542
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20960698

ABSTRACT
The Goods and Services Tax (GST), introduced in India in July 2017, was designed to replace a fragmented indirect tax structure with a unified, technology-driven compliance system. While this reform achieved its stated objective of reducing cascading effects of multiple taxes, it simultaneously imposed a new layer of procedural complexity on small traders who operate without dedicated finance staff or accounting systems. This study investigates how small traders in Punjab perceive the complexity of GST filing, and whether that perception tangibly influences their business decision-making across dimensions of pricing, vendor relationships, inventory management, and business expansion.

Primary data were collected from 150 small traders across three major commercial districts of Punjab — Ludhiana, Amritsar, and Jalandhar — using a structured, pre-tested questionnaire. Respondents were selected using stratified random sampling, with strata defined by business category (retail and services) and annual turnover. The study employs a multi-method analytical framework: descriptive statistics for respondent profiling, Reliability Analysis (Cronbach's Alpha) to validate the measurement instrument, a one-sample z-test to benchmark perceived complexity against a neutral reference point, an independent samples t-test to detect filing-mode differences, a one-way ANOVA to examine variation across trader education levels, and simple linear regression to quantify the predictive relationship between perceived complexity and overall business decision conservatism.

Findings confirm that perceived GST filing complexity in this sample is significantly above neutral levels (z = 10.24, p < 0.001). Traders filing independently score materially higher on complexity perception than consultant-assisted filers (t = 8.12, p < 0.001). Education level significantly moderates complexity perception, with traders educated up to secondary school reporting the highest complexity scores (F = 14.37, p < 0.001). Regression analysis establishes that perceived complexity explains 38.4% of variance in business decision conservatism (R² = 0.384, p < 0.001). The study argues that the compliance burden on small traders is not merely administrative but has real strategic consequences, pushing businesses toward conservative, lower-growth positions.

Keywords: GST compliance, perceived complexity, small traders, business decision-making, tax burden, Punjab, ANOVA, regression, t-test