Another highly informative Friday workshop in Asuncion

A CIAT tradition that began right after the 2012 General Assembly in Santiago de Chile, continued recently with the post CIAT 2017 General Assembly Friday Workshop in Asuncion, Paraguay. The May 28th event was attended by well over 40 participants from CIAT member countries and other entities. The topic focus continues to be high-level abstracts of current CIAT-related subjects of major interest. With the lead of the CIAT Executive Secretariat, these events are accomplished with the valuable support of the International Tax Compact (ITC) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB).

On this occasion, we addressed 3 key programs: Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT); EUROsociAL; and, Electronic Invoicing.

TADAT

The TADAT initiative is headed by the TADAT Secretariat, associated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The speaker was Monica Calejuri, a Technical Assistance Advisor with the TADAT Secretariat.

What is TADAT? It is a tool developed to provide an objective and standardized performance assessment of a country’s tax administration system. Through its use trained specialist can assesses the performance outcomes achieved by the tax administration for the major national domestic direct and indirect taxes (core taxes) critical to central government budget outcomes. “Core taxes” are identified as corporate income tax (CIT); personal income tax (PIT); value added tax (VAT) or its indirect tax equivalent such as sales tax; Pay-As-You-Earn (PAYE) amounts withheld by employers; and, social security contributions (SSC).

In her presentation, Ms. Calejuri took us through the process of preparing for the assessment, the areas reviewed, the assessment process, report and the value that the tool offers a tax administration. Of major interest to the workshop participants was information on how tax administration officials can train to be assessors for tax administration self-assessments with the tool. The training is available online in English and tax officials may register for training via the TADAT Web site. A Spanish-language online course is being developed. The TADAT Field Guide is also available online, and is available in English, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and French.

The Field Guide provides a wealth of information. It explains the vital 9 Performance Outcome Areas (POAs), how these are determined and valued; the 28 performance indicators; and, how these are measured.

Ms. Calejuri was joined by other representatives from the Paraguay Tax Department, IADB, and IOTA who spoke on the merits of the TADAT tool. Please visit the TADAT Web site for a treasure trove of valuable information that will certainly be of aid to all tax administrations.

EUROsociAL+

The TADAT presentation was followed by the much celebrated EUROsociAL program. EUROsociAL is the European Union’s regional technical cooperation program created to promote social cohesion in Latin America, support national public policies aimed at improving levels of social cohesion and strengthening the institutions that carry them out. Speakers for EUROsociAL were Jose Santomé and Maria Domínguez. Mr. Santomé introduced the EUROsociAL+ project, which is a sequel to the successful EUROsociAL II project.

The workshop participants were informed of the activities carried out by the prior project and objectives of the current EUROsociAL+ project. The presentation was also complemented by comments from Gonzalo Arias of the CIAT Secretariat and other country representatives whom have been beneficiaries of past EUROsociAL projects.

A video presentation captured several of the EUROsociAL activities that have been delivered over the years in support of CIAT member countries in Latin America.

The EUROsociAL officials and Mr. Arias informed that the method of cooperation between peers that can be carried out through: technical assistance and advice; exchange of experiences between countries; exchange of officials responsible for management and decision-making; training courses; and, networking among tax administrations.

Information was also provided on the ongoing development of the EUROsociAL II project and upcoming implementation.

Electronic Invoicing

The third part of the workshop focused on “The State of Electronic Invoicing”. Presentations were made by speakers from the CIAT Executive Secretariat, the tax administrations of Argentina, Mexico, Uruguay and others.

Over the past 8 years the CIAT Secretariat has been collaborating with the tax administrations of Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico in order to advance the knowledge, development and use electronic invoicing in Latin America and the Caribbean. The benefits derived from the use of electronic invoicing, for taxpayers and tax administrations, are numerous and through the Secretariat technical assistance has been provided to a number of member countries. However, this workshop was focused on major advances in this subject area. Some of these advances are rewarding tax administrations with unique tax control opportunities that would not be available without the use of electronic invoicing.

Significant support is being provided by the Inter-American Development Bank to member countries in the region on electronic invoice implementation. Comments were made by Alberto Barreix on advances.

The Argentina representative spoke on the evolution of the use of electronic invoicing in Argentina from the implementation in 2005 to the recent creation of “Factura ‘M’ Electronica.” There are currently over 1 million entities generating electronic invoices. As in the past with paper invoices, many unscrupulous taxpayers have attempted to generate fictitious and fraudulent electronic invoices. The creation of “Factura ‘M’ Electronica”, is addressing that concern.

Another advance presented by Argentina was the advance of the electronic invoice and the electronic payroll (nómina electrónica). The use of this system has significantly improved data received from Social Security periodic filings.

The representative from Mexico made highly valuable comments on how their electronic invoice system is greatly aiding the tax department in the taxpayer audit process. In Mexico, the evolution of the electronic invoice is intricately tied into the digital economy.

In summary, it was a very worthwhile morning and afternoon for all in attendance. For many, the speakers provided insight into tools available to effectively review once tax administrations, programs by support agencies that provide vital financial support for technical assistance and the state of electronic invoice uses that enhance the control process.

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