Tax Administration Digitalisation and Digital Transformation Initiatives

Reader’s guide

Tax administrations covered by this report

Tax Administration Digitalisation and Digital Transformation Initiatives provides an overview on the extent and progress of technology tools and digitalisation solutions implemented by tax administrations. Its primary purpose is to assist tax administrations in their considerations of possible domestic digitalisation and digital transformation reforms as well as to help identify where future collaboration between tax administrations might be of most value, whether bilateral or multilateral.

It summarises the data from the Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives (OECD et al., 2024[1]) and covers the 54 jurisdictions that are members of the OECD’s Forum on Tax Administration (FTA).

The Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives

The inventory is the result of a global partnership. It has been put together with the assistance of the ISORA Partners (the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations, the International Monetary Fund, the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations and the OECD), the Asian Development Bank, the African Tax Administration Forum, the Cercle de Reflexion et d’Echange des Dirigeants des Administrations Fiscale, the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators, the Pacific Islands Tax Administrators Association and the Study Group on Asia-Pacific Tax Administration and Research.

It is managed by the OECD FTA Secretariat and can be found through the following link: https://www.oecd.org/content/oecd/en/data/datasets/inventory-of-tax-technology-initiatives.html.

Data gathering process

The data underlying the inventory was collected through the 2024 Global Survey on Digitalisation1 which was launched in April 2024 and completed by more than 100 tax administrations. The data has not been reviewed or validated by the OECD or any of the partner organisations. As a result, all data should be considered as self-reported by the administrations concerned.

Publication structure

The publication is structured around seven chapters: (i) an introduction, followed by chapters on the six building blocks of the OECD’s vision for the digital transformation of tax administration, referred to as the Tax Administration 3.0 vision, as described in the OECD publication Tax Administration 3.0: The Digital Transformation of Tax Administration (OECD, 2020[2]): (ii) digital identity; (iii) taxpayer touchpoints; (iv) data management and standards; (v) tax rule management and application; (vi) new skill sets; and (vii) governance frameworks.

Forum on Tax Administration

The FTA is a unique body bringing together tax commissioners and tax administration officials from over 50 OECD and non-OECD economies. The FTA is a forum through which tax administrators share knowledge, undertake research and develop new ideas to enhance tax administration around the world. Readers wishing to find out more about the FTA should go to: https://www.oecd.org/en/networks/oecd-forum-on-tax-administration.html. For more information on the OECD’s work on tax administration, please visit: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/tax-administration.html. (Both links accessed on 12 February 2025).

Caveat

Tax administrations operate in varied environments, and the way in which they each administer their taxation system differs in respect to their policy and legislative environment and their administrative practice and culture. As such, a standard approach to tax administration may be neither practical nor desirable in a particular instance. Therefore, this report and the observations it makes need to be interpreted with this in mind. Care should be taken when considering a jurisdiction’s practices to fully appreciate the complex factors that have shaped a particular approach. Similarly, regard needs to be had to the distinct challenges and priorities each administration is managing.

Note

← 1.  The survey can be accessed here: https://www.oecd.org/content/dam/oecd/en/topics/policy-issue-focus/inventory-of-tax-technology-initiatives/global-survey-digitalisation-2024-en.pdf (accessed on 12 February 2025).