"As a younger assistant in the General Tax Department of the Public Revenue Office of Macedonia, with an only a year of experience in the tax area, it is of great importance for me to have the opportunity to learn and interact with experts from other well-developed countries.

In that manner, it was a great honor and a privilege for me to attend the CEF workshop, Creating an Effective Audit Planwhere I had the opportunity of getting to know the positive practices and methods that are being used in the Dutch tax and custom administration as well as in the countries of the other participants in the event.

There were many interesting topics covered during the workshop, mostly in the lectures given by the presenters from the Netherlands, and practical exercises/problems that the participants, divided in different working groups, had to address.

Being a part of the compliance management group of the Macedonian Revenue Office, one of the most important lessons for me was the part devoted to compliance management in the Netherlands. We learned about the practical approach of our Dutch colleagues in improving voluntary tax compliance and tackling tax evasion.

Working as a younger assistant in the department of planning audits, it was beneficial for me to gain knowledge of actual performance of audits, and better understand the need for all the data, papers, efforts and time that is necessary for preparing and performing external audits.

Upon my return to work, I shared my experience and lessons learnt with my colleagues, both in my own department and in the working group for compliance management.

Furthermore, we took the initiative of implementing some of the positive practices of other countries in the area of audit selection, and making use of the OECD report for 2014 “Compliance management by design” to address voluntary tax compliance in Macedonia.

I would like to thank the CEF for the excellent organization of the workshop, and for the positive attitude and approach of managers Tina Žagar and Ivana Gašparac. It was an honor to meet, interact and learn from you all."

*The course was 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, International Monetary Fund, and 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.