The International Monetary Fund recently initiated a comprehensive 3-year project to support the Revenue Service of Georgia (GRS) in its desire to strengthen tax administration in Georgia. This project clearly demonstrates the depth of partnership and spirit of cooperation between IMF and GRS over the last few years as well as recognition of the successful reforms already carried out within the tax administration. The project will help to deliver on the GRS’ commitment as expressed in its Strategic Plan 2017-2020 and will ensure further progress in eliminating areas of concern identified by TADAT assessment in 2016.
In particular, the project aims to build on progress already made by the GRS to adopt modern tax administration practices. The first module (Module I) will entail implementing the reform strategy and building capacity in GRS Headquarters to manage the reforms. The project also aims to strengthen the Headquarters capacity to respond appropriately to administrative challenges of legislative changes, such as the Distributed Profits Based Corporate Tax (DPBCT) and the changes needed to harmonize with EU law (under Module II). Further modules (Modules III, IV and V) will concentrate on improving the organizational structure, on developing its capacity to identify and mitigate risks; and on strengthening the core tax administration functions to remedy deficiencies identified by TADAT and other diagnostic tools. All modules will be supported by technical assistance, using multiple delivery channels. A key element is the deployment of a resident advisor to give consistent support and guidance on strategy implementation, and to coordinate short-term expert assignments where needed.
The project is structured around the following three key work streams, which largely reflect the objectives in the GRS Strategic Plan 2017-2020: (i) review and modernize the organizational structure and governance arrangements, (ii) develop risk management capacity, and (iii) improve core functions such as filing enforcement, audit, registration and collection. The success of the project is planned to be verified by TADAT assessment in 2020.