On 28th-30th November 2022, the IOTA Secretariat’s delegation including Roman Bichevoy (Strategy & Institutional Development Manager) and Oksana Stepanenko (International Taxation Expert), represented IOTA at the ISORA Technical Working Group (TWG) meeting in Washington DC, the USA. The event was held under the chairmanship of the International Monetary Fund.
International survey of revenue administrations (ISORA) is an annual global survey covering more than 160 jurisdictions, including all IOTA members. Having such a wide coverage of jurisdictions, currently ISORA is the largest resource of qualitative and quantitative tax administration data. Representatives of all five partner international organizations (IMF, OECD, ADB, CIAT and IOTA) took part in the ISORA TWG meeting under the chairmanship of the IMF.
During the meeting all partners presented information on their recent ISORA-related activities. All partners, including IOTA, use ISORA data in their publications, presentations and work and highlight ISORA-derived statistics and data in workshops they host.
On ISORA 2022 progress and timelines, the partners reported that they are in contact with the relevant ISORA coordinators, and the latest completion deadline set by partners is for end-December 2022. TWG’s aim for internal release of ISORA 2022 is in April 2023, and external release in September 2023.
The main topic for discussion at the TWG meeting partners was the preparation of the extended periodic ISORA survey 2023, which takes place every four years. The 2023 survey will include annual and additional (periodic) questions. Additional questions on gender policies, organizational reforms, remote working arrangements, international compliance risks, compliance interventions, international audits, audit case selection, use of third party information, e-services, monitoring of taxpayer service channels will be included in the questionnaire.
The partners also discussed their ISORA 2023 training plans. It was agreed that a joint 2.5 days OECD/IOTA training will take place on 6-8 September, in Vienna, Austria, for European OECD FTA members and IOTA members.
ISORA partners also shared their plans and ideas on ISORA outreach, awareness and communication. On outreach opportunities, the parties discussed the possibility of promoting ISORA at their respective high-level events (IOTA General Assembly, CIAT General Assembly, Technical Conference and research network meeting, OECD FTA Plenary and release of the TAS, IMF Spring or Annual meetings, NTO meetings etc.) Apart from regular publications and other data products, producing a video showcasing use of ISORA data by tax administrations as a joint partnership product was discussed.
Roman Bichevoy also participated in meeting of the Technical Working group of Virtual Training to Advance Revenue Administration (VITARA) also at IMF Headquarters in Washington DC 1-2 December. Representatives of all four partner international organizations (IMF, OECD, CIAT and IOTA) took part in the this meeting. Members of TWG discussed future development of VITARA curriculum, marketing and promotion activities, possible cooperation with other partners and many other topics. For more information on VITARA please visit this page.
