The overall aim of this IOTA project is to create a tool that will provide a broadening of the understanding of tax administrations for tax debt management processes, considering the differences in the process among IOTA member countries, as well as the opportunity for easy and understandable learning about process automation.
Responsible IOTA Coordinator |
Coordinator of the Project Subgroup |
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Ivana Donchevska, IOTA Secretariat |
Ann-Sophie Nolf, Belgium |
Notifications
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Download Country Survey (click here) |
Deadline: extended until 3/05/2023 |
Submit the completed Country Survey (Click here) |
The Forum on Tax Debt Management as a continuation of the Area Group on Debt Management carried on with identifying and promoting innovative working methods for tax debt collection and recovery. The mandate of the IOTA Forum on Tax Debt Management covers a selection of "concrete issues" on which the activities of the Forum and subgroups will focus. One of the Forum’s priority focus areas is the “Automation of tax debt management processes”. Tax administrations are keeping the balance between automation and manual work, making parts of the debt management process automated, reducing manual work, and using debt management information for decision-making.
The automation of the tax debt management processes plays an important role in the effectiveness, impartiality, and overall success of tax collection. However, the tax administrations are not sharing the same level of development and digitalization. Acknowledging the importance of automation of tax debt management processes, tax experts agree that it would be helpful to develop a visualized tool for tax debt management processes among IOTA member tax administrations sharing the stage of automation of high-level processes.
This tool will provide a broadening of the understanding of tax administrations for tax debt management processes, considering the differences in the process among IOTA member countries, as well as the opportunity for easy and understandable learning about process automation.
Ultimately, the project aims to improve the tax management processes by sharing the possibilities of modernization and automation, provoking greater interaction, a proactive approach, and collaboration among IOTA members.
The Subgroup aims to:
a) Provide structured general information on IOTA members' tax debt management processes.
b) Use the collected data from IOTA members to undertake process mapping – identifying high-level automated work processes (internal and external) in the field of tax debt management
c) Identify ways to enhance and modernise the tax debt management process
d) Follow up on the progress and effects of automation of the tax debt management process
IOTA members’ tax debt management visualized processes, and a report summarising the survey findings, specifically:
a) A better understanding of how the tax debt management processes work
b) Visualization of tax debt management processes with information on their automation status for gap analysis, modernisation, training, integration, or process improvement purposes.
c) Information on tax debt management processes “within an arm’s reach”
d) Increased cooperation and better communication between IOTA members regarding the automation of the processes, understanding the complexity and addressing the possible challenges within a given process
The Subgroup should consider the following stages of the tax debt management process:
ADMINISTRATIVE PHASE
The starting point of the tax debt management process should be the first key step that the Tax administration should undertake after the tax due date
• Issuing debt payment notification to the taxpayer
• Sending a warning demanding that the tax liability be settled by a certain deadline
• Deferrals and payment plans
JUDICIAL PHASE
• Second warning
• Issuing a recovery notification and payment orders
• Compulsory enforcement procedure
• Seizing assets (e.g., garnishment of the bank account assets (savings), garnishment of capital gains, expropriation of property and/or capital assets)
• Seizing the taxpayer's funds held by third parties (e.g., notaries, banks, employers, etc.)
• Public auction
• Bankruptcy
• The third-party liabilities (seizure of the assets that are used by third-party)
• Third-party debt orders (debtor’s debtor)
• Joint liability, both taxpayers are jointly liable
• Mutual assistance for the recovery of claims
The end of the process is considered the last step of the recovery when no further steps can be undertaken to recover the tax debt.
❑ Determination of the country coordinating the Subgroup’s work
❑ Allocation of tasks among the Subgroup members
❑ Analysis of existing external sources of information (e.g. OECD FTA, European Commission, etc.)
❑ Launch of the survey/questionnaire to gather information about IOTA members’ tax debt management process automation (automated, semi-automated, or manual)
❑ Video conferences
❑ Reporting of progress to the TDM Steering Group and presentation to the IOTA Tax Debt Management Forum
❑ Approval of draft and final reports by Steering Group and participating countries
• February 2022 - Call for expression of interest
• Beginning of March 2022 - Setting up of the Subgroup (composition of subgroup, nomination of Subgroup Coordinator). The Subgroup should be composed of 7 representatives from geographically dispersed IOTA members representing the EU and non-EU countries.
• End of March 2022 - Kick-off Conference Call of Subgroup (agreement on Roadmap, Action Plan and Timeline, working methods, tasks, meeting dates)
• April-September 2022 - defining the key steps of the tax debt management process, drafting the country survey
• September-October 2022 - finalisation of the country survey structure and content (sections, key steps, questions)
• December 2022-January 2023 - creation of the country survey template
• January-February 2023 - creation of the project's dedicated webpage and population of project information
• March 2023 - launch of the country survey
The Subgroup should consider undertaking the following steps:
1. Identify and define tax debt management processes that should be included in the mapping
2. List the key steps and process details
3. Segment tax debt management processes into groups and subgroups
4. Define the high level of tax debt management processes that should be mapped
5. Define and explain the level of automation (what is an automated, semi-automated, and manual process)
6. Prepare and launch a survey to the IOTA members on the tax debt management process automation (automated, semi-automated, or manual)
7. Analyse the survey results and prepare a report with the findings and conclusions
8. Propose the best possible (user-friendly) way of visualization of the collected data
The Project will be completed by sharing the automation status of debt management processes and publication of final the Report on the IOTA website.
It is estimated that the Subgroup members working hours during this year will be approx. 300 hours.
❑ Mechanism of a continuous update on possible changes in the mapped processes by IOTA member tax administrations participating in the survey or adding new information
❑ Possibility of organising follow-up activity on presenting the visualized mapped processes and the report in a dedicated event
❑ Presenting the visualized mapped processes and the report to the IOTA General Assembly
❑ Promoting the use of the visualized mapped processes and reporting findings
❑ Publication of excerpts of Subgroup report (e.g. executive summary)