TAX ADMINISTRATION EXPERT STTA TRIP REPORT | Fiscal Reform for a Strong Tunisia

The mission took place from September 30 to October 23, 2019, and aimed to define a set of indicators for various activities, including registration and maintenance of the taxpayer register, management and follow-up of declarations, and spontaneous and enforced collection. The team worked with stakeholders to propose a simple, relevant, and easy-to-measure set of indicators for the tax administration. The indicators were designed to monitor and control daily activities, facilitate regular management dialogue between senior managers and decentralized structures, and provide accountability to the government, Parliament, and civil society. The indicators were also intended to be linked to the strategic objectives of the ministry and translated into performance indicators. The performance approach in tax administrations involves using indicators to assess main processes and develop strategic plans for improvement. Many countries have adopted this approach, and their tax administrations produce annual activity reports that describe activities carried out and present indicators of achievement of objectives assigned to them. For example, the tax administration of the Kingdom of Spain monitors the number of visiting citizens, declarations, and online communications, while the 2015 Activity Report of the DGI presents information on the filing rate of annual declarations, verifications, and amounts of tax refunds. Tunisia has adopted the Organic Budget Law in March 2019 and is considering a reform and a new version of its strategic objectives up to operational indicators. The program's strategy is divided into objectives, which are themselves divided into indicators. The annual performance plan (PAP) is intended to contain strategic priorities, performance objectives, and complementary and specific objectives. The indicators proposed during this mission may be selected for some of them in the context of the ongoing Budget Management by Objectives (GBO) reflection. The DGCPR in the fiscal sphere has strategic directions to strengthen the collection of public revenue and limit recourse to debt, and to improve the quality of services provided by the tax offices. The DGCPR monitors five indicators in its annual performance plan, including the rate of change of collected tax resources, the rate of change in collected non-tax resources, and the rate of realization of local government resources compared to estimates. The approach to these indicators is mainly based on a rate of change, which can sometimes be restrictive. The DGCPR also monitors the waiting time in tax offices, the number of registrants in the e-filing and e-payment systems, and the number of tax offices equipped with electronic payment terminals (EPTS).