Press Release No. 13/424

Press Release: Southern Africa’s Revenue Administration Officials Share Experiences on Exchange of Information for Optimizing Revenue Collections and Facilitating Trade

November 4, 2013

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Africa Regional Technical Assistance Center South (AFRITAC South) held a workshop for revenue administration officials on exchange of information. The workshop took place in Mauritius on October 28–31, 2013. Thirty-two officials from revenue administrations, representing 12 AFRITAC South member countries (Angola, Botswana, Comoros, Lesotho, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe) participated in the seminar.

IMF staff emphasized how well-organized systems and procedures for the exchange of information can improve the strategy-making process, enhance tax compliance management, and facilitate trade. Topics of discussion included: using third-party information to aid compliance in personal income tax; using technology to facilitate information sharing; extracting information for risk management; utilizing information generated by revenue streams for compliance management; collecting and reporting information for effective revenue administration; and developing information communication plans. The participants shared experiences on key challenges and opportunities in revenue administration. Participants were also briefed on progress made by the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF in developing a web-based platform for the Revenue Administration Fiscal Information Tool (RA-FIT). Results from the first, manual iteration of the tool covering 86 countries were discussed and revenue administration trends highlighted.

In addition to experts from the IMF, the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) made presentations to seminar participants detailing their experiences and successes in making use of information from within their organizations and from other agencies to help them be more effective in both collecting revenue and facilitating compliant taxpayers.

Addressing the participants, Mr. Vasdev Hassamal, Chairman of the MRA Board noted that, with commitment, there is a vast opportunity for each country to increase national revenues and better facilitate trade through improved compliance monitoring.

At the conclusion of the seminar, Mr. Vitaliy Kramarenko, AFRITAC South Coordinator said that revenue mobilization and trade facilitation are important priorities for the AFRITAC South region, and the seminar provided convincing examples of how better information sharing in revenue administration could promote these priorities. Mr. Kramarenko added that the seminar also provided a platform for peer-to-peer experience sharing upon which AFRITAC South will build by expanding its program of secondment arrangements among AFRITAC South member countries and the participation of AFRITAC South member country officials in AFRITAC South technical assistance missions as trainees.