We, the Heads and representatives of 43 Forum on Tax Administration members met for the 16th Plenary meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) on 11 – 13 October 2023 in Singapore. Together the 53 members of the FTA, which brings together both advanced and developing tax administrations from across the globe, are responsible for raising over EUR 13 trillion annually to fund our public services. The theme of our Plenary was collaboration and partnership, not only between tax administrations but also with an increasingly wide range of stakeholders as we work together to shape the future of global tax administration, implement the new global agreements and support global capacity building efforts. We agreed:
•To collaborate on an ambitious set of projects to help realise the vision of Tax Administration 3.0, utilising new technology tools to increasingly build-in compliance, drive down tax gaps and significantly reduce complianceburdens;
•To work together to ensure the effective implementation of Pillar Two in a consistent manner, includingexploring how we can deepen co-operation between tax administrations to support compliance, collaborationand certainty in the administration of the global minimum tax rules; and
•To enhance the effectiveness and reach of our global capacity building efforts through closer partnership withother international and regional organisations.
Digital transformation of tax administration
We recognise the huge opportunities that digital transformation can bring, allowing us to shift over time towards a more seamless model of tax administration where taxation processes are increasingly built into the systems that taxpayers use to communicate, carry out transactions and run their businesses. As set out in the FTA’s Tax Administration 3.0 vision for digital transformation, in addition to the significant economic benefits of freeing up taxpayers’ time and resources, when looked at across the FTA each one percent increase in revenue could bring in over EUR 130 billion annually.
This is a journey and it will require many pieces to fit together to realise the full benefits. This includes co-development of several building blocks of digital transformation with other parts of government as well as with the private sector and internationally. We therefore agreed to work together with business and academic stakeholders on a set of pioneering projects to help progress key building blocks of our Tax Administration 3.0 vision on:
•enabling seamless digital cross border tax processes both between tax administrations and with third parties,based on the interoperability of digital identity; and
•developing thought leadership on key common issues to help inform digital transformation in the areas ofdigital identity, digital strategy and artificial intelligence.
We also discussed the radical changes to our administration that digital transformation will bring and the need for new skills across our workforce. We endorsed the ongoing work across the FTA Networks and Communities of Interest that can help us meet these challenges together.
Implementation of the Two-Pillar Solution and Tax Certainty
We discussed the challenges and opportunities arising from the implementation of the global minimum tax. Based on this common set of rules, we have already agreed on a standardised return that provides us with an efficient mechanism for the collection and exchange of GloBE information. We further agreed to explore how to streamline the administration of the global minimum tax such as through co-ordinated compliance, including in the area of risk assessment.
We also looked forward to the next steps in our collaborative work on improving tax certainty following the publication this year of a manual on the handling of multilateral mutual agreement procedures and advance pricing arrangement.
The next FTA Tax Certainty Day, which will give us an opportunity to reflect on priorities for the coming year, will be held virtually on 14 November.
Tax Capacity building
We recognise the importance of making sure all tax administrations can benefit from the outcomes of the FTA’s work. Recently this has been delivered through our capacity building programmes, including:
• The launch of the new Knowledge Sharing Network (KSN) that provides a peer-to-peer forum for the exchange of knowledge as well as direct support as we move together towards implementation of Pillar Two. Already close to 400 officials from 98 jurisdictions, including 41 jurisdictions eligible to receive official development assistance, participate in the KSN;
• The piloting of a new Tax Inspectors Without Borders programme for the Digitalisation of Tax Administration. This allows for confidential and high level engagement on the many strategic and practical aspects of digitalisation initiatives;
• The promotion of the Digital Transformation Maturity Model, now completed by 58 tax administrations globally, as well as the Inventory of Tax Technology Initiatives (ITTI) containing data from 80 administrations across the globe;
• The ongoing development of tools to support capacity building such as the Knowledge Sharing Platform for Tax Administrations (KSPTA) which can open up our capacity building work across FTA members and other interested parties; and
• A new sub-group of the FTA’s Capacity Building Network, focusing on long-term bilateral capacity programmes that may benefit from peer-to-peer discussions on programme design, programme collaboration, monitoring and evaluation, and country-specific challenges and opportunities.
We agreed to continue to enhance the FTA’s tax capacity building work, led by the FTA’s Capacity Building Network, through building closer partnerships with regional tax organisations, international organisations and developing country tax administrations. We were pleased to welcome at the Plenary representatives from the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Pacific Islands Tax Administrators Association (PITAA) as well as the Commissioners and senior officials from Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Lao PDR, the Philippines and Vietnam.
At our Plenary meeting, we also discussed the major emerging risks facing tax administrations as well as issues around maintaining and building trust, tax debt management, including assistance in tax collection, the fight against tax fraud and tax crimes, and progress in the work we have undertaken since the Sydney Plenary to increase awareness on tax transparency. We also discussed organisational issues, including addressing unconscious bias and improving gender balance. The outcomes from these discussions will be passed back to the relevant FTA work programmes and Communities of Interest to inspire their further work. We also heard the results of the piloting of a new multilateral hackathon concept. The multilateral hackathon involved 18 different FTA administrations working together in virtual teams over several months to generate innovative solutions for real-life problems identified by Kenya and Indonesia related to the shadow economy.
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Finally, we are very grateful to Singapore for hosting the Plenary and for their kind hospitality, as well as to Greece for having offered to host the 2024 Plenary.
Information on the FTA reports released since the 2022 Plenary in Australia, including Tax Administration 2023, are contained in the Annexes to this Communique, as are a list of
Plenary participants and the FTA Plenary agenda.
