As of July 1, outsourced accounting (bookkeeping) services may be provided by licensed accountants only. Licenses are issued by the State Revenue Service (SRS). The licensing system will provide quality service and safety guarantees thereby reducing shadow economy risks and increasing the international credibility of the Latvian economy.

The memberships of the Federal Tax Service of Russia and the Ministry of Taxes and Duties of the Republic of Belarus in the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations (IOTA) are terminated. The decision was made by the 27^th General Assembly of IOTA in Tbilisi, Georgia, and follows a 1-year suspension from all IOTA activities that took place in June 2022. The termination of membership resulted from an absolute majority vote of IOTA members and came into effect on 27 June 2023.

IOTA is glad to inform you that the National Tax and Customs Administration of Hungary took over the Presidency from the Georgia Revenue Service at the 27th General Assembly of IOTA in Tbilisi.

The State Revenue Service (SRS) of Latvia has approved and published its development strategy for the next four years, setting out the institution's priorities, goals, and tasks. This strategy was developed with the participation of local social and cooperation partners; the project was funded by the European Union Structural Reform Support Programme and implemented by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

IOTA has just carried out another fruitful hybrid activity, the Forum on Combating VAT Fraud took place on 13^th -15^th June 2023 in Budapest, Hungary. Over 50 tax officials from 27 IOTA member administrations joined in person and more than 200 participants from the membership attended digitally the forum meeting.

Ms. Nicoleta Mioara Cîrciumaru has been appointed as the new President of the Romanian Tax Administration. Ms. Cîrciumaru took office on 30 May 2023.Ms. Cîrciumaru has over 20 years’  experience of working in tax administration and has held a wide range of roles in the organisation.

In 2024, the State Revenue Service (SRS) will launch a rating system for Latvian companies. Amendments to the law On Taxes and Fees were approved by Parliament on 8 June. The new system has two purposes: 1) companies will be able to see their tax payment discipline in detail, which affects cooperation with SRS, and 2) company ratings (general info) will be publicly visible so that possible cooperation partners, customers, and other interested parties can verify the company’s overall tax payment performance.

On 7 June 2023, IOTA had the pleasure of organising another fruitful Webinar on ''Promoting Employee Well-Being''. Over 100 participants from 29 IOTA member tax administrations joined the online video event as we also welcomed guests from our international partner organisation, the OECD Forum on Tax Administration which was represented by its members of the Community of Interest on HR.

On 31 May 2023, IOTA successfully broadcast another Webinar, this time on “Use of Big Data and the Deployment of Analytics”. Over 240 participants from 30 IOTA member tax administrations gathered in the virtual space in order to learn about recent developments in the use of big data and about the use of different analytical models used to tackle non-compliance.