Norway
IOTA Forum on Tax Debt Management “Step into the Future of Tax Debt Management with Cutting-Edge Technology”
From 1 to 3 October 2024, IOTA together with the Norwegian Tax Administration had the pleasure of organising the Meeting of the IOTA Forum on Tax Debt Management in Oslo, Norway, as a hybrid event. The Forum's theme was "Step Into the Future of Tax Debt Management with Cutting-Edge Technology" and it was attended by 60 tax officials in-person and by 70 participants online, coming from 33 IOTA member administrations, and from the OECD-FTA Tax Debt Management Network.
During the Forum, participants explored innovative methods and strategies for managing tax debts, with a focus on the effective recovery of debts from unconventional assets using advanced technologies and data analytics. The event featured presentations from 12 IOTA member tax administrations, including Azerbaijan, Belgium, Estonia, France, Ireland, Finland, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, and Spain. It was also valuable input to the topics of the Meeting by the representatives from our international partner organisations such as the European Commission’s DG TAXUD and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) in attendance.
We were honored to have Øivind Strømme, the International Director of the Norwegian Tax Administration, open the Forum and set the stage for meaningful presentations and dialogues on the latest methods and strategies employed by tax administrations in the area of tax debt management.
On the first day of the Forum, participants explored country approaches to the latest achievements regarding the recovery of tax debts from difficult-to-recover assets. They also examined examples of effectively recovering debts from unconventional assets, including crypto assets, and learned about new and innovative measures for efficient tax debt collection & recovery. This was covered by the following speakers from the IOTA member tax administrations:
- Hungary: “Tax debt management of the Hungarian National Tax and Customs Administration (NTCA) in the 21st Century” presented by Dr András Lázár;
- Azerbaijan: “Tax Collection and Arrears Management in Azerbaijan” presented by Eldar Babazada;
- Norway: “Collecting cryptocurrency” co-presented by Niklas Svensson & Henning Furuhøi;
- Estonia: “Recovery of tax loss in criminal cases” presented by Marju Vahing-Mõttus;
- Norway: “Using Structured Experimentation and User Insights for Business Development” presented by Charlotte Schwaiger
On the second day of the event, a series of insightful presentations covered IOTA member tax administrations’ strategies and innovative methods to manage tax debts by using advanced technologies and data analytics. Attendees also learned about practical examples of using advanced technology and sophisticated data analytics to streamline tax debt management processes, identify potential debtors, assess risks, and enhance assistance efforts for tax debtors. Additionally, several IOTA member tax administrations presented the use of risk assessment, process automation, and data analytics to optimise debt collection measures. The following country presentations covered this topic:
- Ireland: “Debt Management Services – The Future of Managing Taxpayers with Tax Debts” presented by Aidan Hastings;
- Lithuania: “Streamlining Debt Recovery: Automated Recovery from Bank Accounts in Practice” presented by Vitalija Burdeinaja;
- Latvia: “High-Performance analytic appliance – SAP HANA - a significant contribution to the digitisation of the recovery process” co-presented by Inese Birzniece & Dace Sabļina;
- Spain: “Improving debt recovery investigation using data analysis, management tools and new procedures” by Fernando Alonso Monferrer;
- Finland: “Risk assessment in payment arrangements and the use of data analysis to optimise collection measures” co-presented by Suvi Katajamaa & Antti Heikonen;
- Poland: “Virtual assistants for recovery of claims purposes” presented by Iwona Banach
The last session of the day focused on best practices delivered by IOTA member tax administrations to navigate through the complex data privacy regulations and safeguard sensitive information while pursuing debt collection activities. The following IOTA member countries reflected on the topic:
- France: A new approach to enforced debt collection: adaptation and innovation for offensive debt collection” co-presented by Antoine Molitor & Erik Bergs;
- Belgium: “Collecting taxes &. Privacy protection: a balancing act” presented by Félicienne Nyiboka-Bokwetenge;
- Norway: “Conducting Personal Data Assessments for Data and Analytics Projects” co-presented by Britt Leraan & Jasmin Eide
The closing day of the Forum provided tax officials with updates from distinguished speakers from our international partner organisations. Luk Vandenberghe from the European Commission - DG TAXUD and Eri Kataoka from the OECD - FTA Secretariat presented the activities of their organisations for improving tax debt collection and strengthening tax debt recovery.
At the end of the event, delegates had the opportunity to provide feedback and discuss ideas for future activities of IOTA in the area of tax debt management and explored the forward look into developments on the issues examined and discussed over the course of the Forum meeting.
The Forum created an exceptional interactive environment with a mix of plenary sessions and group discussion sessions that fostered collaborative learning amongst participants and allowed them to discuss the challenges and solutions to the effective handling of tax debts in a dynamic manner. The event was facilitated by IOTA International Taxation Expert Ivana Donchevska, with support from her colleague, the IOTA Work Programme Manager Eugenijus Soldatkovas.
All the Forum materials and presentations along with the photos are now available on the event's webpage while the event recording will be provided soon.