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In this paper we analyze the dynamics of response burden in the main business surveys conducted by Banca d’Italia and we investigate its relationship with some data quality indicators. We find evidence of a significant increase in actual burden over time which has contributed to amplifying the perceived burden. Our results also show a clear link between a respondent’s perceived effort and the probability of not answering some important questions (such as those relating to expectations of future investments and turnover) or of dropping out of the survey. Further, we find that firms reporting a high perceived burden tend to provide inaccurate answers to quantitative questions and to choose the first plausible response when confronted with complex questions.