The Federal Tax Service of Russia
Published: 17.12.2021 18:30
“With the ongoing pandemic and the need for economic recovery, tax administrations are becoming the mainstay that both political leaders and society rely on,” said Bob Hamilton, Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency, opening the 14th Plenary Session of the OECD Tax Administration Forum.
The participants discussed the modernization of tax administrations’ activities in the context of the spread of COVID-19, what tasks need to be solved to maintain trust between administrations and taxpayers, as well as the implementation of a global reform of the taxation of transnational companies (the Two-Pillar Solution).
Director of the OECD Center for Tax Policy and Administration Pascal Saint-Amans stressed the importance of working on this reform and noted that the creation of an effective administration system will ensure a smooth transition to the new rules for both businesses and tax authorities. “Two-Pillar Solution administration should be built taking into account the best tax technologies that will minimize the burden for international groups of companies and tax authorities at all stages of the implementation of new tax rules,” said Daniil Egorov, Commissioner of the Russian Federal Tax Service.
As part of the "Digitalization and Digital Transformation" session, he also presented to his colleagues the catalog of digital innovations of tax administrations prepared by the tax authorities of Russia, the UK, and Australia. It was based on the Global Questionnaire, in which 40 tax administrations took part. It provides insight on how they organize and improve their operating models and service delivery mechanisms. "This allows tax authorities to learn from each other, identify best practices, and better understand the vectors of development of colleagues around the world. With this information, the tax authorities will be able to demonstrate to state governments the need for appropriate changes in tax policy and administration," said Daniil Egorov.
The catalog will be published on the OECD website and will be available to the public in early 2022. It will be supplemented by country-specific case studies and updated annually.
As a result of the session, it was proposed to create working groups on the basis of the Forum with the involvement of the OECD Secretariat to form approaches to the administration of the Two-Pillar Solution. During the meeting, the participants exchanged views on potential areas of work related to digitalization perspectives. They emphasized the significance of implementing the results of international taxation analysis in practice. One such example is to tackle the issue of reducing the tax gap, easing the administrative burden on taxpayers, adopting a client-oriented approach to the activities of tax administrations, and promoting a culture of innovation.
The event was held via videoconference. Representatives of 53 tax administrations, international organizations, and businesses attended it. Representatives of tax administrations from 19 countries, including Canada, the USA, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Chile, Norway, Sweden, Latvia, Singapore, Kenya, Malaysia, the UK, France, and others, made presentations at the plenary meeting.