Ongoing developments in the global taxation community are changing the way tax administrations must operate. They are impacting the strategic and operational areas of tax policy, making it vital for tax administrations to continuously assess and optimize their effectiveness.
To help tax administrations address these ongoing risks and challenges, from economic to behavioural, IBFD developed TAx-Ray.
Our TAx-Ray tool is part of our commitment to provide governments and tax authorities worldwide with innovative and value-added services. Using a combination of in-depth interviews and tools, TAx-Ray gives a 360-degree perspective of a tax administration, measuring its institutional, strategic and operational ability. It analyses how efficiently the organization can implement and enforce tax laws, sets out priorities and possibilities for improvement.
Our TAx-Ray assessment is:
- The most comprehensive methodology available
- Evidence-based
- Applicable for developed and developing countries
How it works
Our experienced team of consultants visits the organization in person and works with the organization’s officials to collect data and conduct research and interviews. We analyse the organization’s maturity level based on standardized performance indicators. Our experts will present a detailed report outlining the findings and suggestions for improvements. This report is a valuable resource that can be used by the organization as baseline assessment and insights for priority setting to improve performance.
Key areas for assessment are:
- Environment
- Tax system
- Mandate/mission and vision
- Organizational features of tax administrations
- Compliance risk management
- Tax operations (1): Registration, filing and assessment
- Tax operations (2): Auditing and fraud investigation
- Tax operations (3): Collection, appeals and service
The TAx-Ray assessment tool brings an organization into focus:
- Collaborative approach with on-site visits for data collection and research
- Thorough analysis of the organization’s strengths and weaknesses
- Detailed information on the maturity level of the organization and potential areas for improvement
Who benefits from TAx-Ray
The TAx-Ray methodology and IBFD’s thorough knowledge of the practice and legislation of tax authorities worldwide combine to offer new insights and perspectives. Ministries of finance, supervisory institutions, donor organizations and international organizations can all benefit from our in-depth understanding of tax issues and the local context. The tool recognizes environmental circumstances in developed and developing countries and has been created for international application in OECD and non-OECD member countries.
This innovation helps organizations achieve and fine-tune their operational and organizational goals.
A range of clients benefit from IBFD’s TAx-Ray assessment:
- Developed and developing countries
- Tax administrations
- Tax investigation agencies
- Ministries of finance
- Supervisory institutions
- Donor organizations
TAx-Ray in practice
TAx-Ray was developed by Matthijs Alink and Victor van Kommer, who also are the authors of IBFD’s Handbook on Tax Administration. They will be involved in the assessment process and will be supported by the Government Consultancy department of IBFD. The project team can call on the different disciplines and experiences of IBFD’s multilingual and multicultural staff, and network of tax lawyers, accountants, economists and public and tax officials from over 35 countries.
Your organization can use TAx-Ray as a self-assessment methodology that yields valuable information for ongoing and effective development. It can also be utilized an assessment method for reporting to international organizations.
With the TAx-Ray diagnosis, an organization gains a factual foundation for successfully directing policy, formulating strategy, setting priorities and allocating budget and resources to improve performance.
The assessment culminates with the final TAx-Ray report. This report is a valuable resource that can be deployed as a benchmark or baseline assessment. The information can be used to compare your tax administration with similar tax administrations and to track year-on-year progress on selected performance indicators.
TAx-Ray gives you benefits you can put to work:
- Leading assessment methodology for both self-assessment and reporting to international organizations
- Insights gained can direct policy and strategy formulation and allocation of resources
- The final TAx-Ray report can also be used as a baseline for ongoing self-assessment, or a benchmark for comparing your administration’s development relative to your peers