EUROSAI Seminar An Insight into New Approaches for Bridging the Tax Gap: VAT-Fraud 6-8 June 2010 Location: Best Western Premier Hotel Slon Ljubljana Slovenska cesta 34 SI-1000 LJUBLJANA SLOVENIA
1 Introduction In January 2010, the first of three seminars on the theme An Insight into New Approaches for Bridging the Tax Gap: Possible scenarios for SAIs took place in The Hague. According to the participants the seminar was a great success. Two more of these seminars will be organised. Some short history During the VI th EUROSAI Congress (European Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions) in Bonn, Germany, in May/June 2005, the members of EUROSAI discussed the offer the EUROSAI IT Working Group had made to carry out a project in the area of IT and (international) revenues fraud. They accepted the offer, as it was in line with its own line of thought regarding the audit of public revenues by SAIs, one of the themes of the congress. Included in the Work Plan 2008 2011, which was adopted by the VII th EUROSAI Congress in Krakow, was the proposal to make a next step by organising three small seminars, inviting tax authorities and other stakeholders to foster trust, in order to enhance cooperation. By organising seminars, we aspire to create a platform for cooperation both nationally between SAIs and their tax authorities (TAs) and internationally between European countries. The project focuses on (international) public revenue fraud. The objective of the project is: to enhance the effectiveness of revenues fraud combat through (international) cooperation and use of IT. The Netherlands Court of Audit (NCA) has the project lead and secretariat of the subproject of the EUROSAI IT Working Group. Other participants in the project team are the National Audit Office of Finland (FNAO), the Accounts Chamber of Russian Federation (ACRF) and a representative of the Dutch Tax and Customs Administration (DTCA). The project In total three seminars with a limited number of participating countries will be organised. The results and experiences of the seminars will be presented at the VIII th EUROSAI Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2011. The first seminar was hosted by the NCA and the second and third seminar will be hosted by respectively the SAI of Slovenia and the SAI of Russia. The series of seminars will deal with specific topics within the scope of the general objective of the overall project. The first seminar focused on possible scenarios for SAIs. The second seminar will have a focus on VAT-fraud. The third seminar will be hosted by the SAI of Russia. The subject for the last seminar will focus on possible IT Solutions for diminishing the grey economy.
2 General information for the second seminar The tax gap and VAT-fraud Tax administrations (TAs) have over the recent years developed several new methods to improve compliance and to bridge the tax gap. This involves close cooperation between TAs and other stakeholders. This new approach has consequences for processes within TAs, but it also has consequences for the relationship between TAs and SAIs. This seminar will be dedicated to the modern approaches TAs find for bridging the tax gap in general and fighting the (international) VAT-fraud in particular. There is more cooperation between TAs and other organisations, a more system based approach and more reliance on IT. In these new circumstances it is important that SAIs and TAs are on the same line, sharing the goal of better control of revenues. For SAIs it is important to be aware of the new approaches, both in their own country and abroad, not seeking obstacles but making use of them in a risk based direction of their audit effort, the standards applied in that and the recommendations it formulates. For TAs it is important to realise the role SAIs can play in enhancing their control. This seminar is a mean of creating an atmosphere in which SAIs and TAs, both national and international, talk to each other, share their knowledge and ideas and thus work together for improving revenues control. A secondary product is also to identify best practices, to come to inspiration for both TAs and SAIs. Objectives The objectives of the series of three seminars are: for SAIs to get knowledge of new approaches of TAs and other relevant agencies in bridging the tax gap and identify the consequences for their risk analysis, audit criteria, audit designs and possible findings and recommendations; for TAs (and other relevant agencies) to learn from SAIs experiences in other audit fields; to provide a platform for SAIs and TAs to share ideas and best practices. The outcome of the series will be presented to the VIII th EUROSAI Congress in Lisbon, Portugal, in June 2011. Target groups The target groups for the seminar are senior members of SAIs, TAs and other relevant agencies from the EUROSAI countries, who are involved in bridging the tax gap as far as VAT-fraud is concerned. The participating SAIs are required to select and invite the TA and/or other agencies relevant for diminishing VAT-fraud within their country. Although the seminar is organised by the EUROSAI IT Working Group, the right person to participate might not necessarily be an IT expert, but could also be a finance, fraud and/or tax expert.
For practical reasons, the number of participating countries will be limited to seven. Each participating country has a maximum delegation of five participants of which two are from the SAI and three from the TA and other relevant agencies. Presentation Each country is asked to jointly (SAI, TA and other relevant agencies) prepare a short presentation (max 15 minutes). This presentation should give some insight to all the other participants and explain in headlines: The role of the national TA and/or other relevant agencies and the (recent) developments to deal with VAT-fraud and improving the: o effectiveness and the efficiency of the organisation including IT components; o the relationship between the organisation and its clients ; o the (national and international) collaboration with the suppliers of (core) business related information (e.g. addresses, chambers of commerce, VATnumbers, customs, etc.); o multi lateral co-operation between TA and other relevant agencies; The role of the SAI, its audit approaches and efforts and international network; The developments in the relationship between the institutions; Description of recent success stories, best practices and, equally important, problems faced by both institutions individually as shared. Each country is kindly requested to submit the presentation before 31 May 2010, to the organising team. If participating countries do have relevant information (articles, reports, etc.) that are of interest for other participating countries, the project team would appreciate it if these were also submitted. All documents will be included in the seminar s information bundle which will be distributed to the participants before the seminar. The presentations will form the start of the seminar. Delegations are asked to present their presentation during the first session. Based on the presentation and on the following discussions, topics will emerge for further discussion during the seminar. The idea is to be flexible. Each delegate is expected to be a pro-active participant in the seminar. Discussions will be at a corporate and conceptual level.
3 Programme Sunday 6 June 2010 Meet and Greet Arrival and registration of delegates during the afternoon 18:00-19:30: Welcome reception in the Hotel Monday 7 June 2010 Morning Session (plenary; 9:00-12:30, including break) Welcome and introduction participants Short introduction of the project (Mr. Luuk Krijnen) Presentations per country (plenary; 4x) Lunch (12:30-13:30) Afternoon Session (plenary and break out sessions; 13:30-17:00, including break) Presentations of two audits on VAT-fraud (plenary; SAI. and SAI Slovenia) Presentations per country (continuing of morning session; 3x) Identifying issues for discussions in subgroups (plenary). Evening Session (19:00- ) Dinner and social programme (on invitation by the SAI of Slovenia) Tuesday 8 June 2010 Morning Session (9:00-13:00, including break) Short recap day 1 (plenary) Discussion about the identified issues of the participants and to come to (possible) solutions through discussion (break out groups) Lessons and ideas to take home (break out groups) Conclusions and recommendations (plenary) Closing and evaluation Lunch (13:00-14:00) 4 Application and registration procedure Countries that are interested in participating in this seminar are requested to respond to the invitation by the Swiss SAI by 26 April 2010 at the latest using the following address: irf@rekenkamer.nl. In this response the SAI is requested to point out which other relevant agencies it selected and why. If too many countries are interested in participating in this seminar, the project team will make a selection. After the selection is made, all applicants will be informed. The selected countries will receive a conformation (by email) and a registration form. The registration
form has to be completed (for each participant) and returned to the Netherlands Court of Audit and Slovenian Court of Audit before 10 May 2010. As both SAI and TA/other relevant agencies need to register, the SAI is advised not to wait too long with approaching these agencies. Hotel Reservations The Slovenian Court of Audit will be happy to make reservations for the participating countries at the Best Western Premier Hotel Slon Ljubljana at a special rate of 117,01 per person per night, including rich buffet breakfast and tourist tax. Please note that if you register after 10 May 2010, a room cannot be guaranteed. Please also note, as is the custom within EUROSAI, that travel and hotel costs are at the participants own expense. Transport means from and to Ljubljana airport are described at the airport website (http://www.lju-airport.si/eng/ section Getting Here). Shuttle/Taxi transport from Ljubljana Airport and to/from hotel can be arranged by the hotel ( 9 per person for one way). Assisted garage parking is also available at the hotel ( 18 per day per vehicle). Please see http://www.hotelslon.com/ for additional information on the hotel and Gateway to information on Slovenia - http://www.slovenia.si/. 5 Overview of important dates 31 March 2010 invitation sent out 26 April 2010 applications deadline for countries 03 May 2010 confirmation of application by project team 10 May 2010 registration deadline for selected countries 31 May 2010 submit presentation to project team 6-8 June 2010 seminar in Ljubljana, Slovenia 6 Contacts If you need any further information, we have established a central email address for contacting the project coordination team. This email address is: irf@rekenkamer.nl. With this address your message will always reach the team. Of course you can also use the individual address data of the team members: Luuk Krijnen, Project Manager, NCA, l.krijnen@rekenkamer.nl: +31703424418; +31 6 11925149 Fred Band, Senior Auditor, NCA, f.band@rekenkamer.nl, +31 703424235 Hayo van der Wal, Policy Officer International Affairs, NCA, h.vanderwal@rekenkamer.nl: +31 703424392
René Landgraf, Member of the Management Team Rijnmond Office, DTCA, rgm.landgraf@belastingdienst.nl Johanna Kormu, Principal Financial Auditor, FNAO, johanna.kormu@vtv.fi Andrey Bazin, Consultant, ACRF, elch2010@yandex.ru Alexander Myltsev, senior inspector, ACRF, elch2010@yandex.ru Host: SAI Slovenia Miroslav Kranjc, Supreme State Auditor, SCoA, miroslav.kranjc@rs-rs.si Peter Hafner, Senior Auditor, SCoA, peter.hafner@rs-rs.si Nataša Skrt-Kos, International Affairs, SCoA, Natasa.Skrt-Kos@rs-rs.si