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 information and knowledge management to improve the prevention and fight against fraud
• Spain renews its cooperation agreement with CIAT in 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 the subject of debate by the most of 40 member countries of the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), which held its Technical Conference in Granada.

During the opening presentation on Tuesday, the Secretary of State for the Treasury and president of the Tax Agency, Jesús Gascón, highlighted 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 voluntary compliance with fiscal obligations and in promoting social cohesion.”

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

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

Artificial intelligence and voluntary compliance  

During the conference, the director of the Management Department of the Tax Agency, 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 the tax procedures of the past, analyzing and discovering which characteristics of the taxpayer make it more likely that they can make a mistake" in the present, and then show you a message if you modify a series of boxes in Renta Web that can give rise 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, presented, for his part, his Area's experience in the use of virtual tools, specifically the so-called Virtual Visit, an alternative computer system to the in-person one that allows taxpayers and their advisors to interact. with the Inspection by videoconference without having to go to the offices. Thanks to this, taxpayers, advisors and inspectors save more than 76,000 hours of travel per year.

This system, Hurtado pointed out, achieves “a reduction in indirect tax burdens and time savings, while allowing 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 associated countries: 32 American countries, five European, four African and one Asian country.
• CIAT's objectives include the promotion of mutual cooperation actions to facilitate voluntary compliance by taxpayers and combat all forms of tax fraud, as well as the implementation of mutual assistance projects to strengthen tax administrations.
• CIAT has a General Assembly and a Technical Conference, governing bodies that are convened annually. The General Assembly is the decision-making body that approves the budget and work program for each year, among other activities. In turn, the Technical Conference dedicates its technical-strategic session to the exchange of points of view on strategic issues of special relevance to member countries.