This course will be delivered as part of the Supporting Capacity Development of Tax Administrations in South East Europe project primarily supported by the Dutch Ministry of Finance, Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Assistance Technique France (Adetef). The overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening of beneficiary institutions’ capacity in implementing the EU’s recommendations under which the revenue authorities can deliver tax compliance risk management.
What you will learn
Revenue authorities across South East Europe are increasingly introducing measures to improve tax compliance and to ensure that the full amount of taxes due according to the law is paid. These measures include new approaches to risk rating and risk treatment, targeted taxpayer education programs, consolidation of organizational functions and structures, etc.
In this interactive course participants will learn about the principles of compliance risk management, many modern tax administrations have adopted to better allocate scarce resources and to achieve an optimum tax compliance strategy. Specific aspects concerning the risk management process model such as the identification, assessment and prioritizing of risks will be covered. In addition, the importance of finding a good balance between preventive measures that promote voluntary compliance and corrective measures such as audits and fines will be emphasized and explored. The course will also address the question of why the establishment of sound corporate governance is necessary for an effective and efficient application of modern risk management approaches within the revenue authorities.
Topics addressed during the course will include:
- Critical elements of an effective compliance risk management program
- Considering the risk environment through a range of “lenses”
- Range of possible treatment strategies (considering ways in which various categories of non-compliant taxpayer behavior can be matched with appropriate compliance management actions)
- Good governance in tax context
How you will benefit
The workshop is based on a series of presentations which provide the basis for break-out group exercises and plenary discussions. Participants will be encouraged to share the experiences of their own countries with their counterparts from across the region. The style will be informal and interactive; so as to maximize opportunities for shared learning.
By the end of the course, participants are expected to:
- have improved understanding of practical aspects of applying compliance risk management.
- have improved knowledge in matters related to identifying and analyzing compliance red flags.
- have learned about possible treatment strategies when pursuing compliance risk management.
- have learned by exchange of experiences with other countries.
Who should attend
The course has been designed for mid to senior level tax officials who are involved and/or have experience with the compliance risk management within their institutions. They should be in a position to share experiences and express opinions in discussion with other participants.
They should also be familiar with the OECD’s model of the compliance risk management process. As the workshop will be held in English with no translation, participants should have a good command of English.
Faculty
Steffen Hansen, Tax Administration Reform Advisor for South East Europe, International Monetary Fund
Steffen is a Danish career administrator with a wealth of experience across all tax administration and customs components of revenue administration. Following more than twenty years of employment in various staff and middle management positions, he has since 1994 held top management positions at both regional and central level, including at the Danish Ministry of Taxation as Deputy Permanent Secretary.
Steffen has led a number of large-scale and complex development and reorganization projects, including merger of customs and tax agencies, streamlining of organization structures, and full implementation of a modern Compliance Risk Management system. He possesses a wealth of experience in cooperating with the European Commission, as well as familiarity with EU rules and regulations in customs and taxation, and with the EU customs and fiscal blueprints.
Norman Gillanders
Norman was head of strategic planning and operations policy in the Irish Revenue service at the level of assistant commissioner. He led the restructuring of the Irish Revenue by designing, setting up and running the first of its new regions and was one of the key managers in the overall restructuring of the organization. He implemented a new business model for managing PAYE (employee payroll taxation) and led the development of the Irish Revenue's compliance strategy. As part of this strategy, Irish Revenue launched its REAP system for computer-driven risk screening of businesses to improve targeting of compliance interventions.
Norman worked as the IMF's tax administration reform advisor in South Eastern Europe from 2011 to 2014. He worked on behalf of the IMF with the tax authorities in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro and Romania and was attached to the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF) in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Norman also worked for the IMF on short-term missions, mainly in Rwanda but also in Jordan, Armenia and Tunisia where he was part of a team that delivered a week's training in strategic planning to delegates from over 20 English-speaking African countries.
Lisette van der Hel, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands
Lisette van der Hel is strategic advisor of the Management Board of the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration in the area of Compliance Risk Management (CRM). Previously, she was manager of the Compliance Risk Management Unit, with specific responsibility for policy advising, research, intelligence, monitoring and international aspects of CRM. She is a member of the steering group of the EU Risk Management Platform and chair of the working group on the Tax Gap and Compliance Map. In 2010 she led the working group on the update of the Compliance Risk Management Guide. Besides these responsibilities, she was appointed as a Professor of Effective Governmental Supervision at Nyenrode Business University in Breukelen, the Netherlands.
In the last decade Lisette took part in numerous projects for development of tax administrations. She has a lot of experience in giving training sessions, workshops and doing strategic analysis in developing countries.
Soraya van der Zouw, Ministry of Finance, the Netherlands
Soraya van der Zouw has worked for the NTCA for since 2002, first as an operational auditor for the internal audit office and later on as a project leader for the Compliance Risk Management Organisation. For the past five years she has been a researcher/advisor at the Compliance Risk Management Organisation, working on strategic orientations of target groups like the High Net Worth Indivduals and Sport and on strategic evaluations of compliance risk management strategies for specific target groups like starting entrepreneurs, the self-employed and employment agencies.
Application procedure
Application Closing Date: Apr 17,2015
