Voluntary tax compliance. Intangible values. Cooperation between DIAN and Skatteverket / Anders Stridh & Lennart Wittberg - Swedish Tax Agency

1. Voluntary tax compliance
Cooperation between DIAN and Skatteverket
Anders Stridh & Lennart Wittberg, 1 – 5 June 2015

2. Intangible values

3. How do taxpayers perceive the Tax Agency?

4. 4
Proactive and useful communciation
Failure demand Value demand
Taxpayers that contact the tax
administration
Taxpayers that dont
contact the tax
administration
Failure demand is created by the
organisation not working properly.
(often 40-50 % of all contacts)
Value demand is the demand the
administration wants. It reduces the
number of errors and increase compliance.
Were is my refund?

5. Information
Interaction
Transaction

6. 6
Examples
• A brochure is sent to taxpayers that have sold shares or
property
• New businesses are invited to information meetings
• We cooperate with industry associations and they educate
their members
• We advertise in media
– Day for filing tax return

7. 7
Summary, our strategic approach
• Focus on the result of the contact and not the
channels per se, but have a range of different
channels
• Proactive information, reduce failure demand
• Building community confidence
– In every contact

8. 2002
2008
2010
OECD
developments
2012
Audits
Risk
management
Innovative
treatments
Understanding
behaviour
Right from
the start
2004
Better
selection
Holistic
view
Other than
audits?
We need to
know
Strategic
approach

9. Focus shift
Focus on the taxpayer
”We need to fix the taxpayer”
Focus on the
environment

10. ..one size does not fit all!

12. How we work with changes – as it has turned
out
12
Knowledge Insights
Changed
mindset
Changed
working
methods
“The Road Ahead” is about us changing our
view on the taxpayers and thus changing our
way of working

13. Moving from output to outcomes
“Do things right”
“Do the right thing”
Outcome
Changed behaviour
Indicators
Input
Auditors
Activities
Do Audits
Output
Revenue
collected

14. Measuring if the tax gap is increasing or
decreasing
1. Tax information map
– Determining how secure the tax base is
2. How easy/difficult it is to comply
– Assessing what the tax agency does to make it easy to
comply
– Assessing complexity of legislation
3. Measuring attitudes and norms
– Indicators from surveys

15. Information levels in the tax information map

16. Tax information map

17. Combining different indicators
Tax information map
Easy/difficult to comply
Attitudes and norms
Change in compliance behaviour

18. Creating a pro compliance
environment
Preventing non-compliance
Guiding the
way

19. Macro level
Economic growth
Tax evasion
This is the long term correlation. The opposite can be true in the short
term.