‘Tax Gap Estimation and Use – Latest Developments’ was the theme of IOTA’s two-day digital workshop, held between 11th and 12th May 2022. The event welcomed 144 registered participants from 29 IOTA tax administrations and 13 from OECD/FTA countries.
The workshop aimed to identify practical solutions for enhancing the administrative capacity of tax administrations in measuring tax gaps, with the final goal of improving tax administration performance. The tax gap provides a useful tool for understanding the relative size and nature of noncompliance and important information to the public on tax compliance, creating greater transparency in the tax system.
The event took place as a combination of digital Plenary Sessions and Group Discussion Sessions. The first Plenary Session of the event showcased the core topic of the workshop thorough the international organisations` view with presenters including:
- “Strengthening Compliance Gap Use into the Operational Activity of Tax Agencies” presented by Mr. Stefano Pisani, International Monetary Fund
- “Developments of Tax Gap Estimations in the EU” presented by Ms. Marie Goppelsroeder and Mr. Günther Ebling, EU Commission
Covering the key theme of the workshop, the second Plenary Session put the IOTA countries` approach in the spotlight. During the two days of the event the following countries shared their experience:
- Presentation by Denmark: “The methodology and use of tax gap estimates in Denmark” presented by Mr. Mikkel Bau Jungersen
- Presentation by Italy: “Tax gap and tax policy analysis: the new Italian tax CGE (ITAXCGE) model” by presented Mr. Paolo Di Caro
- Presentation by Italy: “VAT gap estimation by bottom-up methodology: a machine learning approach” presented by Mr. Carlo Leone Del Bello
- Presentation by Norway: “Tax gap estimations for personal tax deductions by random audits” presented by Mr. Arnstein Øvrum
- Presentation by the Netherlands: “Programme Random Audits – Two different approaches to tax gap estimation” presented by Mr. Lou Verberkt and Mr. Amrit Heppener
- Presentation by United Kingdom: “Tax gap estimation and use” presented by Mr. Mick Thackray,
- Presentation by United Kingdom: “UK tax gap estimation - overview of methodologies and latest estimates” presented by Ms. Linda Green
Attendees could raise questions during the Q&A at the end of each Session. In addition, participants were actively involved in Group Discussions and in a Final Panel Debate during the event.
All material, presentations included, is available for registered IOTA website users on the event’s webpage while Group Discussion notes and the recording on the event will be provided soon.