Revenue Administration Handbook

Revenue Administration Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and management of tax and customs administrations, covering topics such as tax policy design considerations that impact tax administration, institutional setup and strategic planning, analyticalcapacities and maturity models, core business processes, and tax sanctions. It also presents pioneering work in the field of digital transformation and how to build data science capabilities, including a roadmap for policy makers and tax officials on how to incorporate and manage disruptive technologies, such as machine learning, into building modern revenue administrations while taking into account their respective maturity levels. This practical manual provides examples from real-life World Bank projects so that policy makers, tax officials, information technology experts, and information and communication technology providers can better understand the needs of revenue administrations to design and implement the most appropriate technology solutions. This reference work is intended to serve as a tool to facilitate the progress and modernization of tax and customs administrations worldwide, and to reach not only tax experts and policy makers, but also other government officials, businesses and academic communities, as well as the larger public, since all are relevant stakeholders with an active role in day-to-day revenue administration operations. ------------------------- “This is a very timely and useful reference for tax practitioners and stakeholders, coming at a time when tax administrators continue to grapple with the challenge of how to accelerate the modernization of technology systems to remain effective in a rapidly advancing and technologydriven business environment.†? MOSES WASIKE, Senior financial management specialist, World Bank “This is an impressive piece of work that pulls together many different strains on tax administration.†? JEFFREY OWENS, Director, Global Tax Policy Center, Vienna University “Applying several technologies discussed in this handbook in an innovative manner will definitely help leapfrog countries to pursue a digital transformation agenda, especially in the areas of efficiency, productivity, and citizen satisfaction.†?

This Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and management of tax and customs administrations. It covers tax administration, institutional setup and strategic planning, analytical capacities and maturity models, core business processes, tax sanctions, digital transformation, and building data science capabilities.

This technical note presents a toolkit for implementing a revenue authority. This toolkit is a guide with a series of operational modules designed to assist countries when they implement a "revenue authority" to administer their tax and customs operations. It provides a definition of Revenue Authority (RA), a brief history of the concept, terminology, identification of key research documents, and a discussion on increasing autonomy in public institutions. It also presents a review of why countries choose the RA model for their revenue administration.

A systematic diagnosis of a revenue administration is a prerequisite to developing a successful strategy for its reform. However, given the complexity of tax and customs administration, this is not a simple task. A host of external and internal factors need to be analyzed to uncover the roots of organizational and institutional dysfunction. Also, the diagnosis needs to be done in a participatory manner to build consensus around the causes for inadequate performance and their remedies. This framework enables a step-by-step analysis of the environment, history, resources, strategy, transformation processes, outputs and feedback mechanisms of the revenue administration system, with a view to identifying systemic deficiencies that lead to inefficiency and ineffectiveness in its operations. Besides a detailed set of diagnostic questions for each area of analysis, the framework provides illustrations of frequently encountered problems and their possible remedies. The framework can be used in a group setting involving different stakeholders, to guide brainstorming sessions and draft reform strategies.

This book is the first in a series of Virtual Training to Advance Revenue Administration (VITARA) reference guides that has been developed based on the contents of the VITARA online modules. This reference guide focuses on how a tax administration can benefit from the application of strategic management: the process of setting long–term objectives, implementing initiatives to achieve them, and measuring their success. Strategic management is a critical planning, communication, and management discipline. A strategically managed tax administration is forward looking and is equipped to respond to challenges arising from a continually changing external environment. This guide is divided into five chapters highlighting key concepts, processes, and good practices relating to the strategic management of a tax administration.

"The Handbook on Tax Administration is a valuable reference tool for tax policymakers, tax administrators and tax students, as well as for those interested in trends and developments in the structure and management of large public organizations."--Back cover.