CIAT Technical Conference

• Under the title 'The Sapiens Administration', participants in the Technical Conference of the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations have examined over three days the advances in the management of information and knowledge to improve the prevention and fight against fraud.
• Spain renews its cooperation agreement with CIAT on research, study and technical assistance for Ibero-American countries

October 6, 2022 .- The use of new technologies by tax administrations to strengthen the relationship with the taxpayer and tax compliance has been a topic of debate by the more than 40 member countries of the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), which held its Technical Conference in Granada.

During the opening speech on Tuesday, the Secretary of State for Finance and President of the Tax Agency, Jesús Gascón, stressed the “changing environment” to which tax administrations must adapt. In this context, Gascón pointed out, "information, technology and human capital allow us to evolve towards a 'sapiens Tax Administration', self-aware of its potential and ability to influence the environment; That is, in the voluntary fulfillment of tax obligations and in promoting social cohesion."

Over the course of three days, the Technical Conference, which was closed today by the Director General of the Tax Agency, Soledad Fernández Doctor, has dedicated its activity to the exchange of points of view by CIAT member and associate countries on strategic matters for tax administrations, such as strengthening the relationship of trust with taxpayers and improving compliance, data analysis as a basis for prevention and control activities, and the adaptation of human resources to new technologies in a post-Covid context.

In turn, within the framework of the Technical Conference, Spain has renewed the agreement through which the Spanish Tax Administration supports CIAT activities in the areas of technical assistance, training, research and study aimed at Ibero-American countries.

Artificial intelligence and voluntary compliance  

During the conference, the director of the Tax Agency's Management Department, Rosa Prieto, presented the latest advances of the Spanish Administration in the use of artificial intelligence to promote tax compliance and improve assistance by avoiding errors by taxpayers when preparing their personal income tax returns.

With machine learning techniques, he explained, “you learn from past tax procedures, analyzing and discovering which characteristics of the taxpayer make it more likely that they could make mistakes” in the present, and then showing them a message if they modify a series of boxes in Renta Web that could lead to errors. Along these same lines, it is planned to continue in the future, in accordance with the work that other tax administrations are also carrying out and that the OECD has been promoting.

The director of the Inspection Department, Javier Hurtado, explained his Area's experience in using virtual tools, specifically the so-called Virtual Visit, an alternative computer system to the face-to-face visit that allows taxpayers and their advisors to interact with the Inspection by videoconference without having to go to the offices. As a result, taxpayers, consultants and inspectors save more than 76,000 hours of travel time per year.

This system, Hurtado said, achieves “a reduction in indirect tax burdens and time savings, while allowing for greater versatility and agility in action,” in addition to facilitating, as happened during the pandemic, adaptation to special social situations.

Additional information about CIAT

• The Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) is an international organization created in 1967 that provides specialized technical assistance for the modernization of tax administrations. It brings together 42 member and associate countries: 32 American countries, five European countries, four African countries and one Asian country.
• CIAT's objectives include promoting mutual cooperation actions to facilitate voluntary compliance by taxpayers and combat all forms of tax fraud, as well as implementing mutual assistance projects to strengthen tax administrations.
• CIAT has a General Assembly and a Technical Conference, governing bodies that meet annually. The General Assembly is the decision-making body that approves the budget and work programme for each fiscal year, among other activities. The Technical Conference also devotes its technical-strategic session to the exchange of views on strategic issues of particular relevance to member countries.