Overview
The Forum on Tax Administration (FTA), created in 2002, brings 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.
The strategic priorities and outputs of the FTA are overseen by a Bureau of 14 Commissioners, chaired by Commissioner Bob Hamilton of the Canada Revenue Agency. The Vice Chairs are Commissioner Chris Jordan, of the Australian Taxation Office and Commissioner Jérôme Fournel, of France’s Direction Générale des Finances Publiques.
The FTA:
- Brings together Commissioners and other stakeholders at an annual Plenary to discuss global challenges and opportunities and to set the strategic priorities for FTA collaboration.
- Harnesses the collective expertise and experience of its members to undertake a set of time-limited collaborative projects, ranging from knowledge-sharing reports to thought leadership and the development of new practical tools.
- Provides opportunities for in-depth dialogue and cooperation between tax administration experts across tax administration functions in a range of Networks and Communities of Interest.
- Engages in dialogue with key stakeholders, including business and taxpayer representatives, tax policymakers and financial regulators, supporting parallel dialogues at a national level.
- Works co-operatively with other OECD fora, international organisations and regional tax organisations.
Members
The Forum on Tax Administration has over 50 members, from advanced and emerging economies across the globe:
- Australia
- Austria
- Argentina
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Canada
- Chile
- China (People's Republic of)
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Georgia
- Greece
- Hong Kong, China
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Kenya
- Korea
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Peru
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Slovak Republic
- Slovenia
- South Africa
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Türkiye
- United Kingdom
- United States
FTA focus areas
Each year the FTA Plenary agrees the focus areas for the year ahead. These are intended to respond to some of the main challenges and opportunities created by a changing business environment, rapid technological developments and an increasingly global economy.
At the 20th Anniversary Plenary in Sydney, Australia, the following priorities were agreed:
Implementation of the Two-Pillar Solution and Tax Certainty
- Intensifying joint consideration of the detailed administrative and capability aspects related to the implementation of the Two-Pillar Solution to Address the Tax Challenges Arising from the Digitalisation of the Economy.
- Leverage experience from applying existing multilateral tax certainty tools, such as ICAP and Joint Audits, in the development of new practical approaches to provide certainty over the application of the new rules.
- Build on the work done to identify improvements to the APA process, as set out in the Bilateral Advance Pricing Arrangement Manual published at the 2022 Sydney Plenary.
- Creation of a new senior-level expert working group on digital transformation (Tax Administration 3.0).
- Scoping of a possible pilot for real-time cross-border exchange of information as well as exploring the use of new technology tools to assist with the implementation of the Two-Pillar Solution.
- Supporting knowledge sharing on digital transformation through the Digital Transformation Maturity Model and by the development of in-depth case studies within the Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives.
Digital transformation of tax administration
- Creation of a new senior-level expert working group on digital transformation (Tax Administration 3.0).
- Scoping of a possible pilot for real-time cross-border exchange of information as well as exploring the use of new technology tools to assist with the implementation of the Two-Pillar Solution.
- Supporting knowledge sharing on digital transformation through the Digital Transformation Maturity Model and by the development of in-depth case studies within the Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives.
Tax capacity building
- Partnering with the OECD Global Relations Programme on Taxation in the development and delivery of high-priority training, including the implementation of the Two-Pillar Solution.
- Providing support for developing countries to participate in and benefit from the work on future tax administration, including through close co-operation with other partners.
- Ongoing use and development of the Knowledge Sharing Platform for Tax Administrations (KSPTA) to support capacity building.
The FTA's working arrangements
FTA collaborative work is carried out under three main areas:
Time-limited projects
Time-limited projects, as agreed by the FTA Bureau and Plenary, may result in publications as well as the creation of new tools or toolkits. (Browse the list of FTA publications)
Networks and Communities of Interest (COIs)
Networks and Communities of Interest (COIs) bring together subject matter experts across a wide range of tax administration functional areas. These Networks and COIs are:
- Large Business & International Programme
- Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC)
- Mutual Agreement Procedure (MAP) Forum
- Tax Debt Management Network
- Capacity Building Network
- Gender Balance Network
- Digital transformation Knowledge Sharing Group
- Shadow economy COI
- Analytics COI
- Behavioural insights COI
- Enterprise Risk Management COI
- Human Resources COI
- Innovative Use of Information COI
- Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises COI
- Tax Gap COI
Supporting Measures
A number of supporting measures coordinated by the FTA Secretariat:
- Tax Administration Series (TAS) which contains comparative information on tax administrations. It examines the performance of tax administration systems, using an extensive data set and a variety of examples to highlight recent innovations and successful practices.
- Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives (ITTI), an online database containing information on technology tools and digitalisation solutions implemented by tax administrations across the globe.
- Maturity Model Series: Maturity models are intended to help tax administrations globally assess their current performance and consider future possible reforms.
- The development of e-learning, virtual or onsite training as well as peer-to-peer assistance and support (including through the Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative (TIWB)).
Contact us
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