26th General Assembly of IOTA

29/06/2022 to 30/06/2022
Short description

Compliance and Trust: affecting tax behaviour while redefining the relationship between taxpayers and tax administrations

Public information

The Swiss Presidency of the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations (IOTA) together with the IOTA Secretariat is organising the 26th General Assembly of IOTA on 29-30 June 2022 in Zurich, Switzerland.

This would be the first in-person General Assembly since June 2019. Participants who would not be able to join in person will have the opportunity to attend the Assembly digitally. However, after having had almost exclusively digital events for more than two years, we would encourage commissioners of tax administrations, leading tax experts, representatives of international organisations and academic society to join the upcoming General Assembly in person. 

The interest of tax administrations in understanding the causes and drivers of taxpayer compliance behaviour as well as factors affecting their motivation to pay tax voluntarily without intervention by tax authorities has strongly increased during the recent years, particularly at the times of global crisis.

The tax administration’s ability to collect taxes depends on individuals’ and businesses’ willingness to pay them. Understanding how taxpayers perceive and experience their relationship with tax authorities may provide an essential test of the existing domestic and global tax compliance models for further enhancement. Greater transparency and a more cooperative approach to tax compliance have great potential to reduce tax uncertainty, influence taxpayer behaviour, and assist tax administrations to better focus their resources and promote a culture of greater trust.

This year’s Technical Session will focus on the theme Compliance and Trust: affecting tax behaviour while redefining the relationship between taxpayers and tax administrations”. In particular, the 26th General Assembly of IOTA will address:

  • Taxpayer psychology and behaviour: taxpayers’ perspectives and attitudes to paying taxes, tools available to build tax ethics and tax morale, the importance of communication in trust-building.
  • Embedding trust in the overall strategy of a tax administration: the challenges in finding the right combination of enforcement, facilitation, and trust-building elements embedded in the overall strategy of a tax administration; staff engagement in redefining the relationship between taxpayers and tax authorities.
  • Extensive use of digital platforms and tools to change taxpayer behaviour, enhance trust and foster compliance.
  • Cooperation between governmental bodies: sharing taxpayer information across the government sector, use of a single digital identification, legal boundaries for cooperation between governmental bodies.

The Technical Session of the 26th General Assembly will include keynote speeches, presentations and lively debates considering the after-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, climate change, digitalisation and other high-impact global events while also building on the successful strategies and practical approaches to fostering voluntary tax compliance and operationalizing trust-building in the tax system.

Participation in the General Assembly is by invitation only. Registration details will be sent only to participants who will have received a formal invitation from the IOTA Secretariat.