Tax Administration Seminar VI: Taxpayer Services Focusing on E-filing and Payment

A three-day workshop on taxpayer services, focusing on electronic-filing (e-filing) and payment was held in Hanoi, Viet Nam from 23 to 25 June 2009 for senior tax administration officials from selected members of ASEAN, namely Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Viet Nam. It was organized by ADBI in collaboration with the National Tax Agency (NTA), Japan; General Department of Taxation GDT), Viet Nam; Ministry of Finance, Government of Japan; and ADB Resident Mission for Viet Nam (VRM), Hanoi.

The main objectives of the workshop were three-fold, namely: (i) to review existing e-filing and payment systems in the Asian region; (ii) to exchange views on the various e-filing and payment systems, and to make a comparison among such models; and (iii) to draw implications and recommendations for effective e-filing and payment strategies. For this purpose, two panel sessions were provided to establish effective e-filing and payment strategies, where active discussions took place and were very much appreciated by participants.

The seminar was officially opened by Mr. Ayumi Konishi, Country Director, VRM on behalf of ADB Institute (ADBI), Tokyo. Ms. Le Hong Hai, Deputy Director General, GDT Viet Nam and Mr. Satoru Yanagisawa, Director, NTA, Japan made welcome remarks to all participants. Mr. Teruo Ujiie, Senior Capacity Building Specialist-cum-Workshop Coordinator, ADBI, Tokyo, chaired the orientation session. A total of six resource speakers presented their papers on various topics of taxpayer services in the context of e-filing and individual country practices. Representatives from Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, and the Philippines made their country reports. It is noted that GDT extended various assistance in conducting the workshop (e.g. facilitating visa application process for participants and resource speakers, and provision of transportation from and to airport).

With respect to the substance of the workshop, participants unanimously rated that: (i) the workshop was useful in their work; (ii) the knowledge and skills acquired and the human network developed through the workshop would enhance the quality of their daily work and, accordingly, the workshop had achieved its set objectives. At the panel discussions on advantages, disadvantages and measures to develop taxpayer services, including e-filing improvements, the participants provided a number of views, comments and suggestions on them. These views and suggestions have been summarized in a three-page paper as Annex 1 to this executive summary.

It is well recognized that the application of information technology (IT) in tax administrations is one the most critical measures to improve the tax compliance. It is also one of the most focused points for tax administration reforms in many Asian developing countries. E-filing and e-payment have been the important factor towards taxpayer services to increase convenience in filing tax returns and paying taxes as well as bringing benefits to the tax authorities. While many developing countries have introduced e-tax services with success, many other developing countries are at the preparation stage or have not introduced the system yet. Therefore, the Tax Administration Seminar series organized this year by ADBI in cooperation with NTA and GDT was a precious opportunity for participating countries in the region to exchange and share experiences in e-tax services to contribute for the development of taxpayer services, tax administrations as well as cooperation of tax authorities among participating countries.

In line with this strategy and ADBI's core themes, in particular, “regional cooperation” and “good governance”, ADBI has conducted an annual workshop on Tax Administration Seminar program mainly for ASEAN member countries since 2004. As this strategy proved to be effective through the evaluation of the past workshops by participants, CBT should organize this kind of training courses for officials of ASEAN countries in coming years, in cooperation with ASEAN Tax Administrations, other international organizations such as OECD, NTA, the Government of Japan (Ministry of Finance), and ADB Resident Missions.

Read the executive summary of proceedings.