The Forum was created by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs in July 2002 to promote dialogue between national revenue bodies and identify good tax administration practices.  These objectives reflect the high degree of commonality of the systems of taxation in OECD member countries and the potential value of sharing information on countries’ experiences in their efforts to improve taxpayers’ compliance with tax laws, reduce taxpayers’ compliance costs and improve administrative efficiency and taxpayer service in a rapidly changing environment. The Forum’s work, especially over the last two years, has confirmed the value of bringing senior officials together to share information and tackle important issues.

The third meeting of the OECD’s Forum on Tax Administration will take place in the Hotel Lotte, Seoul, Korea on 14-15 September 2006 (over 1½ days) and will be hosted by the National Tax Service of Korea.

Themes for Third Meeting

The past decades have witnessed an unprecedented liberalisation and globalisation of national economies. Countries have increasingly removed or limited controls on foreign investment and relaxed or eliminated foreign exchange controls. At the same time progress in information and telecommunication technology has made the world a smaller place. As a result businesses and private taxpayers, particularly high-wealth taxpayers, increasingly operate in a borderless world. 

While businesses and private taxpayers increasingly go global, the activities of revenue bodies remain largely confined to their respective jurisdictions. The exercise of sovereign powers, including taxing powers, is generally limited to persons or events within a jurisdiction’s territory and any country might only see a small part of the overall activities or investments of a given taxpayer.  However, revenue bodies are obligated to uphold and enforce their countries’ tax laws and in order to discharge their obligations they rely increasingly on improved and broadened co-operation with other countries.

In parallel with these globalization trends, various domestic factors have come into play and also required the attention of revenue bodies. In particular, demands for improved government service delivery and greater efficiency and effectiveness (e.g., through the building of seamless ‘whole of government’ approaches, formal outcomes-focussed agency resource agreements, and organisational restructuring) have been at the forefront of efforts to improve overall organizational performance.

In recognition of these trends and in line with its mandate, the Forum meeting will explore a number of selected tax administration issues of major concern to heads of revenue bodies and their staff. Specifically;

• Organisational developments and reforms, with an emphasis on how revenue bodies can better position themselves to keep better abreast of, and be more responsive, to their external environment.        
• International enforcement issues (e.g., early detection of compliance issues, trends in avoidance schemes (including use of charities and the role of tax professionals), innovative responses, and getting better value out of bilateral tax agreements/initiatives.

These matters will be addressed during the meeting by way of selected country presentations, breakout sessions, and discussions in panel format. The formal agenda for the meeting, outlining the structure and arrangements for presentations and discussions will be sent over the next month or so.