Ferenc Vágujhelyi, President of the National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA), has been designated President of IOTA for the 2023-2024 Hungarian Presidency. By education, he is a physics teacher and a programming mathematician.
His previous scientific publications and research focused on electronic identification and authentication, and on the potential applications of blockchain technology in public administration. He holds several patents related to information technology. In Hungary, in addition to his position as Commissioner of the NTCA, he is the Chairman of the National Council for Telecommunications and Information Technology, the Head of the Blockchain Working Group of the Digital Welfare Programme, the Chairman of the Association of Telecommunications and Information Science, the President of the Blockchain Coalition, and the Government Commissioner for the Optimisation of the Data Assets of the Hungarian State Treasury and the NTCA.
Erika Szabo / IOTA: How would you describe yourself in one word?
Ferenc Vágujhelyi: Researcher.
ES: What is your motto?
FV: In humor, I know no jokes and no limits.
ES: What is your story? How did you get into taxes?
FV: In the early 1990s, as a municipal representative, I gained an insight into local taxation, and later my work was related to social security and the contribution system at the National Directorate General for Pensions. I came into direct contact with the tax administration when the NTCA was established, initially as Deputy Director General for IT and later as Vice-President for IT, and I am particularly proud that the online cash register system was created under my professional leadership, which I think I do not need to present here. I then became the Chairman of the National Council for Telecommunications and Information Technology, and returned to the NTCA in the summer of 2021, now as head of the organisation.
ES: What is your job at the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary?
FV: As the Commissioner of the NTCA, my most important task is obviously to manage the organisation, to motivate my staff and to keep it functioning. I am the type of manager who gives sufficient independence and trust to his colleagues, I am not a fan of all-level, one-person manual control, which does not preclude being aware of office work processes and organizational relationships. I consider it my mission to exploit the innovative spirit inherent in the employees of the tax administration and the opportunities arising from the tasks of the tax administration, to bring scientific research to life and to use our results in the entire public administration, i.e. to produce something lasting for the whole society and to do valuable work.
ES: What do you most value in your colleagues?
FV: Courage, perseverance, expertise and a human attitude.
ES: The Hungarian Administration is certainly a seasoned member when it comes to holding the IOTA Presidency. The IOTA member country has already taken on this role two times in the past and has proven itself to be well-trained in its duties. Why did the NTCA apply for the IOTA Presidency again?
FV: The history of IOTA and the Hungarian tax authority goes back to the establishment of IOTA. As a founding member, Hungary has always treated and continues to treat the organisation as an important partner and strives to make the joint work fruitful. NTCA actively participates in the professional working groups. In the past decades, NTCA has gained considerable organisational experience in this cooperation on the functioning of IOTA and its organisational relations, which could be a major factor in the evaluation of the application for the position of the Presidency. In parallel, we support the tax authorities in preparing for future challenges, for example in the field of digitalisation and data sciences. As a result, it was natural to take the opportunity and apply for the position of IOTA president.
Hungary plays an active role in the work of the IOTA Executive Council (EC). We have been and are continuously trying to contribute to the development of IOTA through the intensity of our international work, comments and initiatives. As a good example of the Hungarian activity, we contributed to the development of the new IOTA Strategy 2023-2027, the Code of Ethics and the amendment of the IOTA Charter. According to the Charter, members of the EC can be elected for a maximum of three consecutive years, so last year we should have said goodbye to EC membership for at least one year. We wanted to continue the professional work we started three years ago, and the position of President offered us an excellent opportunity to continue our presence in the IOTA. Not to mention that the Presidency is the coronation, the completion of our previous work in and for IOTA.
ES: What makes the NTCA special in this role?
FV: I would not say that the NTCA is special in this role. The previous Georgian and Swiss presidencies have done an equally outstanding job, and the Hungarian presidency has the same objective. However, as I mentioned earlier, the NTCA has always been a key partner of the Organisation and has worked to support the many excellent opportunities for professional growth that IOTA's programmes offer through its active participation and contributions, as well as by providing its professional expertise to the Secretariat. It is also why we have developed our Presidency priorities, so that we can effectively support the organisation during the term of this position and, by implementing them, pass on a stronger and more engaged IOTA community to the next Presidency.
During the last cycle, we participated as observers in the meetings of the EC and we know the inner workings of IOTA. The experience we have gained over the years and our professional insight into IOTA's activities provide an excellent opportunity to make substantive and constructive proposals, which we have summarised in our Presidency programme. In the recent past, there has been no example of a country holding the IOTA presidency coming forward to the General Assembly on assuming the position and announcing specific goals to be achieved. With the announcement of Hungary's programme, Hungary has sent a clear signal: we take the Presidency seriously and we will work actively to achieve our goals. For the latter, Hungary is of course counting on the support of the members of the EC and the Secretariat, and I expressed my confidence in this at the opening of the EC meeting in Budapest.
ES: When entering this position, what would be the NTCA’s top three priorities and how would your administration tackle them?
FV: The Hungarian Presidency has set four objectives. The first of these is to achieve a balanced budget for IOTA, the second is to provide professional support to IOTA member countries and candidate countries for EU membership. We would like - and this is the third priority - to encourage more activity in the member states that have withdrawn from the work of IOTA in the past period. Last but not least, the Hungarian presidency also set a symbolic goal: we would like to create an International Tax Day in the member states of IOTA, modelled after the International Customs Day. In addition to working on priorities, the Presidency role will provide an opportunity to raise awareness of the NTCA's successful IT services, data science approach, use of artificial intelligence and the potential for a shift to transaction-based taxation.
ES: What do you think, what the future of taxation will look like?
FV: I think that taxation will change at least as much in the next ten years as it has changed in the past decade. I don't think there was anyone who would have predicted the present ten years ago. It is certain that the trend is still towards digitization, decreasing administration, and perfecting machine models. One thing will never be indispensable: human intelligence, innovation.
ES: Why is IOTA important now and in the future, in your view?
FV: Over the last decades, IOTA has become a leading opinion-shaping institution in the European international tax community, helping tax administrations of member countries to identify, discuss and solve operational problems by providing a platform for discussing best practices and researching solutions. The information that reaches Member States through IOTA plays an important role in finding answers to tax administration challenges.
In the future, the organisation plans to serve the needs of its members with more and more up-to-date tax services and events, as there are more and bigger changes in international tax rules and systems than ever before. The OECD Pillar 2 implementation, the EU ViDA package of proposals, the new data exchange processes are all challenges that Member States can work together to find really good solutions to.
IOTA can also help the strategy-making process of individual tax administrations by putting on the agenda of conferences issues that can shape the future of taxation, providing forward-looking solutions through data usage. The Hungarian IOTA Presidency also aims to further strengthen the recognition of IOTA among international organisations.
ES: What are the most important issues for IOTA in the next period?
FV: There are many prominent issues for IOTA and its community to address in the short and medium term. Among these, I would like to focus on those that concern the Hungarian Presidency and that we are working to address. The first such issue is the review of the possibilities for the development of IOTA services, which we can support from the Hungarian side by supporting the funded assistance pilot project with all means. The second thing I would like to mention is to increase the intensity of participation of IOTA membership, within the framework of which the Executive Secretary and I would like to visit on a bilateral basis those member countries whose more intensive participation could raise the quality of professional events and serve the better sharing of opinions and professional knowledge.
There are many important issues for IOTA as a whole. Some of these are deeply affected by our Presidency priorities. The most important of these is undoubtedly the long-term financial stability of IOTA. This is why the EC has established a Financial Advisory Committee to review the management of IOTA and to make recommendations that will contribute to the financial stability of IOTA. Another important question is how IOTA can participate in and support the digitisation process of tax authorities, which is also a priority for our Presidency.
ES: What was the best book you have read in recent months?
FV: Three books suddenly come to mind in response to this question. Vivek Ramaswamy: Woke, J. C. Sharman: Empires of the Weak and Dr. Robin DiAngelo: White Fragility.
ES: Where do you go / what do you do when you need to feel inspired?
FV: I do sports - cycling, tennis, running, sport aviation - and travel whenever I can.
ES: If you had not joined the tax administration what would be your perfect job?
FV: Being a lucky and persevering person, on the one hand I have not given up the areas in which I have been working for a long time, and on the other hand, tax work is an important part of my life and at certain points it is linked to my other tasks. Maybe I could have spent more time on publications and patents in the past, but it would be strange if your life didn't change priorities from time to time. To sum it all up, I am happy with my job, there are enough challenges. I believe in what I'm working on, I believe in my colleagues, so I have no reason to feel inadequate.
ES: Do you have any messages for the IOTA Community?
FV: Of course, I have. I am convinced that IOTA is a strong organisation and that it is fulfilling its primary purpose of sharing best practices among its member countries. We need to work to ensure that this tax professional, international coordination role is fully fulfilled. IOTA is an organization capable of renewal, in which the Hungarian presidency pays particular attention to the exchange of experience in tax administration, the sharing of good practices and the support of member countries.
With the introduction of International Tax Day, a priority of our presidency, we want to ensure that the community of tax authorities, the tax authorities of the member states, can celebrate taxation and the importance of tax awareness together on one day. I look forward to the work of the Executive Council and the active participation of the membership in the coming period. IOTA must provide the highest level of service to its members. We therefore want to support new, constructive directions for development. I encourage the staff of the tax authorities of the individual member states to boldly formulate their ideas and innovative thoughts, to exchange their opinions on the IOTA forums, which are great platforms for the collision of individual ideas and directions at the strategic or operational level.
