Revenue Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa - International Tax ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Box 2: Scope of autonomy of revenue bodies• Budget expenditure management: Discretion to allocate/reallocate budgetedadministrative funds across administrative functions to meetemerging/changed priorities. In practice, this power should enable the revenuebody to use its resources more wisely, obtaining better value for money spent.• Organization and planning: Responsibility for the internal organizationalstructure for conducting tax administration operations, including the size andgeographical location of tax offices, and the authority to formulate andimplement the revenue body‘s strategic and operational plans. The effectiveexercise of these powers in practice could be expected to enable a revenuebody to respond more rapidly to changed circumstances, thereby contributingto its overall efficiency and effectiveness.• Performance standards: Discretion to set its own administrative performancestandards (e.g. for taxpayer service delivery); effective use of this powerenables revenue body management to set challenging but realistic targets forimproved performance.• Personnel recruitment, development, and remuneration: The ability to setacademic/technical qualification standards for categories of recruits, and torecruit and dismiss staff, in accordance with public sector policies andprocedures; the ability to establish and operate staff training/developmentprograms; and the ability to negotiate staff remuneration levels in accordancewith broader public sector-wide policies and arrangements. In practice,effective use of these powers should enable the revenue body to make moreeffective use of its human resources.• Information technology: Authority to administer its own in-house IT systems,or to outsource the provision of such services to private contractors. Given theubiquity of technology in tax administration, effective use of this responsibilitycould contribute enormously to overall organizational performance (includingresponsiveness).• Tax law interpretation: The authority to provide interpretations, both in theform of public and private rulings, of how tax laws will be interpreted, subjectonly to review by judicial bodies. The proper exercise of this power could inpractice be expected to help taxpayers by clarifying the application of the lawand how it will be administered.• Enforcement: The authority to exercise, without referral to another body,certain enforcement powers associated with administration of the laws (e.g. toobtain information from taxpayers and third parties, to impose liens overproperty in respect of unpaid debts, and to collect monies owing by taxpayersfrom third parties). The proper exercise of this power enables revenue bodiesto respond15
Survey results (Table 3)• All revenue bodies, except Botswana, indicated they have powers to interprettax laws and issue binding or non-binding public and private ruling of how taxlaws will be interpreted.• All revenue bodies surveyed are vested with powers to remit administrativepenalties and charges. However, in some countries, maximum limits havebeen set (that is, how much a revenue body can remit without referring thecase to the MOF). 22• All revenue bodies have powers to design and set internal structures for taxadministration.• In terms of the budget, all revenue bodies, except Benin, Burundi, and Senegalhave powers to allocate and reallocate budgets across revenue administrationfunctions.• With respect to human resource management, all revenue bodies, exceptBurundi, have leverage to either determine/set staff numbers orrecruit/dismiss staff.• Four revenue bodies (Benin, Burundi, Senegal and Rwanda) do not have powersto negotiate and set conditions of service for staff.• Most countries have powers to set internal performance and service deliverystandards.Key observationsThe survey indicates that while the level/degree of autonomy and usage of powers inpractice may vary from one country to another, the majority of surveyed countrieshave sufficient, and often exercise the delegated powers to perform the revenueadministration functions. Significantly all revenue bodies (except Botswana) indicatedthat they have powers to make tax law rulings while most revenue bodies havepowers to remit administrative penalties, establish internal structures, allocate thebudget, hire and fire staff, and set performance standards. In addition, the use ofthese various powers is rated as “often” in many countries (see Table 3 for details).Extensive utilization of these available powers, including the issuance of timely taxrulings and implementation of key institutional reforms, will greatly enhance theeffectiveness and transparency of the tax system. This will improve taxpayers’perceptions of the tax system and promote voluntary compliance.22 Interest and penalty regimes are discussed in detail in chapter VII.16
Page 1 and 2: INTERNATIONALTAXDIALOGUE2010Revenue
Page 3 and 4: Table 12: Total cost of collection
Page 5 and 6: PCCAPAYEPITPSVRAGBRRARTSASACUSARSSS
Page 7 and 8: Executive summaryRevenue administra
Page 9 and 10: Institutional arrangements for reve
Page 11 and 12: • All unified semi-autonomous rev
Page 13 and 14: B. Scope of revenue bodies’ respo
Page 15: C. Relative autonomy of revenue bod
Page 19 and 20: Key observationsRevenue administrat
Page 21 and 22: You are entitled to expect SARS:Box
Page 23 and 24: Box 4: An example of a codified set
Page 25 and 26: Table 2: Tax and non-tax revenues a
Page 27 and 28: Table 4: Decision making structures
Page 29 and 30: The organization of revenue bodiesC
Page 31 and 32: The ‘taxpayer segment’ model: A
Page 33 and 34: Key observationsSurvey results indi
Page 35 and 36: Box 6: The common characteristics o
Page 37 and 38: C. Office network and staffingIntro
Page 39 and 40: Table 7: Selected features of the o
Page 41 and 42: Table 9: Number of staff and distri
Page 43 and 44: A. Strategic planning and managemen
Page 45 and 46: Key observationsThe corporate plann
Page 47 and 48: Table 10: Selected management pract
Page 49 and 50: A. An overview of funding mechanism
Page 51 and 52: B. Revenue administration expenditu
Page 53 and 54: Table 13: Share of total wage bill
Page 55 and 56: Revenue performance 76Chapter VKey
Page 57 and 58: Table 15: Revenue collection data f
Page 59 and 60: Domestic tax return filing, assessm
Page 61 and 62: A. Taxpayer registration and design
Page 63 and 64: VAT• All the surveyed countries h
Page 65 and 66: C. Taxation of small and micro-busi
Page 67 and 68:
D. Use of modern electronic applica
Page 69 and 70:
Table 18: PIT filing, assessment an
Page 71 and 72:
CountryHow is the final annual PIT
Page 73 and 74:
Table 20: VAT filing, assessment an
Page 75 and 76:
CountryTable 21: Taxation of small
Page 77 and 78:
CountryBasis used todeterminetaxMal
Page 79 and 80:
Use of electronic application in ta
Page 81 and 82:
Legal and administrative powers of
Page 83 and 84:
functions. These powers are also co
Page 85 and 86:
Table 26: Information gathering pow
Page 87 and 88:
CountryTable 28: Interest and admin
Page 89 and 90:
CountryTable 29: Interest and admin
Page 91 and 92:
CountrySouth AfricaTanzaniaUgandaZa
Page 93 and 94:
CountryMalawiMauritiusRwandaSierraL
Page 95 and 96:
AnnexesAnnex 1: Organization struct
Page 97 and 98:
KRABoard of DirectorsCommissionerGe
Page 99 and 100:
ZRABoard of DirectorsCommissionerGe
Page 101 and 102:
ERCADirector GeneralAdvisory BoardE
Page 103 and 104:
MauRABoard ofDirectorsInternal Audi
Page 105 and 106:
Clarify SARS’operatingmodel,strea
Page 107 and 108:
Enhancethe URAcorporateimageLevel o
Page 109 and 110:
KRAMissionVisionValuesTo promote co
Page 111 and 112:
ZRAMissionVisionValuesTo maximize a
Page 113 and 114:
MauRAMissionVisionValuesTo continua
Page 115 and 116:
GRAMissionVisionValuesTo supervise
Page 117 and 118:
Source: ECRA• Cross cutting issue
Page 119 and 120:
MalawiType of taxRevenue collected
Page 121 and 122:
GhanaTax categoryRevenue collection
show all

Revenue Administration in Sub-Saharan Africa - International Tax ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?