On 4th- 6th October 2022, IOTA successfully carried out its latest Forum on Tax Debt Management “Tax Debt Management during the high-impact Events” in Budapest, Hungary. The hybrid event attracted more than 30 participants from 18 IOTA member countries gathering personally at the venue along with over 30 attendees joining online via MS Teams from 19 IOTA member countries. The main theme of the Forum revolved around high-impact events that could lead to an unpredictable or unstable situation negatively affecting the regular functioning of a tax administration in relation to the management of tax debts at the regional, national, or international level.
The three-day Forum welcomed speakers from IOTA member states such as Austria, Belgium, Finland, Georgia, Hungary, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom who, together with participating tax debt collection and recovery officials, explored how IOTA member tax administrations dealt with the changes, adapted their tax debt management processes, and what lessons they learned were crucial for a better understanding of the impact of the events, adjusting the operating models, and setting the right way forward. The event also covered tailored strategies, contingency plans and working methods, as well as best practices to ensure effective debt management during high-impact events.
The first plenary session of the Forum showcased how tax administrations prepare for high-impact events that affect their debt management and recovery processes, allowing them to quickly adapt and respond to the changes, more specifically:
- Reforms of Tax Debt Management presented by Lika Chopuryan, Georgia
- Tax debt management measures in response to high-impact events adapted by the Hungarian tax administration presented by Katalin Kanizsai dr., Hungary
During the second plenary session, the participating tax administrations presented strategies, operating models they developed to prepare themselves for high-impact events, ensuring that employees follow standardized debt management and recovery procedure, as well as offered debt collection methods that proactively prevent overdue tax from becoming a debt that is hard to recover, focusing on:
- The Finnish Preparedness Model in Case of High-Impact Events presented by Antti Heikonen & Suvi Katajamaa, Finland
- Surviving Pandemics, lessons from the Covid crisis presented by Laurent De Schrevel, Belgium
- Reinforce electronic channels to assist taxpayers to fulfil their payment obligations presented by Fernando Alonso Monferrer, Spain
On the second day of the Forum, speakers gave an overview of the effect of high-impact events on international tax debtors and cross-border recovery challenges including a case study delivered by Karsten Olsen, Sweden. Through the rest of the meeting several IOTA member tax administrations presented the practical implementation of mutual assistance procedure during high-impact events, focusing on:
- The effect of high-impact events on Mutual Assistance in the Recovery of Debts in Belgium presented by Michael Roekaerts, Belgium
- Module for the Mutual Assistance management information application presented by Hugo Bártolo, Portugal
During the last day of the Forum panelists discussed how tax administrations dealt with the change, how they adopted the tax debt management processes, and the lessons they learned to gain a better understanding of the impact of the events had on the process, adjusting the debt collection models, and establishing the right way forward with the following presentations including:
- Lessons learned from the pandemic presented by Ursula Mandak-Hütter, Austria
- How HMRC Manage Tax Debt during High-Impact Events presented by Mark Goodridge, United Kingdom
The attendees of the Forum could raise questions during the Q&A at the end of each Session. In addition, participants were actively involved in group discussions and a panel debate during the three days of the event. The presentations are available for registered IOTA website users on the event’s webpage while the recording of the event will be provided soon.
