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Inter - American Center of Tax Administrations - CIAT

2010 - 2013 Strategic Plan

Executive Secretariat

Index Introduction ................................................................................. 2 Methodology ................................................................................ 3 Context ........................................................................................... 4 Mission ........................................................................................... 7 Vision .............................................................................................. 8 Strategic Directions and Initiatives ................................... 9

Introduction The term of CIAT’s current Strategic Plan concludes on 30 June 2010. The Executive Secretariat, pursuant to the mandate established by the Executive Council on 20 July 2009, endorsed the strategic planning process for 2010 – 2013.

Pursuant to the abovementioned mandate, and to prepare this Strategic Plan, all CIAT member countries and associate member countries were inquired. A Working Group formed by the member countries of the different regions was commissioned for this purpose and the members used the 2007-2010 Strategic Plan as a base as well as the contributions th received by the countries, and a proposal was submitted to the Executive Council for its discussion and later to the 44 General Assembly, for its consideration and definite approval.

The preparation of the 2010-2013 Strategic Plan proposes new succinct definitions of CIAT’s “vision” and “mission,” and incorporates a new section into the context in which CIAT must carry out its future actions, and the Strategic Directions and Initiatives are ordered systematically.

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Methodology CIAT followed the guidelines agreed during the Meeting of the Executive Council held in the City of Panama on 20 July 2009 in designing the Proposal for the 2010-2013 Strategic Plan.

Said guidelines are oriented towards the development of the two basic processes: The Consultation Process: CIAT Executive Secretariat requested the opinion of all member countries and associate members on the following topics set forth in the 2007-2010 Strategic Plan: -

Environmental considerations, Mission, Vision, Strategic Directions, Strategic Initiatives and Actions

The countries were given an opportunity to make statements on other topics that had not been considered.

Discussion Process: the creation of an Ad-Hoc Working Group, called “Technical Committee for the Preparation of CIAT’s Draft Strategic Plan for the 2010-2013 term”, formed by officials of the CIAT Executive Secretariat and the specialized officials of the tax administration of each of the regions that CIAT groups was established to carry out this is process since this is a highly efficient practice used by CIAT during previous terms. To these effects invitations were sent to Mexico (North America), Costa Rica (Central America), Argentina (Mercosur), Ecuador (Andean Countries), Dominican Republic (Caribbean) and, Spain and France (Europe/Africa/Asia).

In the framework of the "Discussion Process" of the Strategic Plan, the following aspects were discussed: Analysis of the environment in which CIAT interacts Internal analysis of the organization Preparation of the Mission and Vision Preparation of the Strategic Directions and Initiatives.

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This Strategic Plan Proposal has been prepared based on a simple but efficient methodology that allows reaching an organizational strategy and in spite of presenting many innovations, allows the continuity of various successful projects for which the organization has assigned considerable resources.

Once the “Discussion Process� of the Strategic Plan concluded, the approval procedure below is carried out: The Executive Council examines the Strategic Plan Proposal and makes its comments.

Based on the comments made by the Executive Council, the Executive Secretariat prepared a Draft Strategic Plan and submited the same to the Executive Council.

The Executive Council reviews the Draft Strategic Plan and presents the draft to the General Assembly.

The General Assembly evaluates the Strategic Plan Draft and approves it with the amendments that it may deem relevant.

The Executive Secretariat executes the Strategic Plan through Annual Operations Plans (POA, in Spanish or AOP, in English) and at the end of each annual term prepares and presents the respective execution reports.

Based on the execution reports of the POA, CIAT prepares partial reports on the degree of advance of the strategy, determining in its case, the need to implement the corresponding adjustments and a final report at the end of the three year term provided for by the Strategic Plan.

Considerations for future implementation and definition To implement the initiatives stated in this Strategic Plan, the Executive Secretariat will prepare and present for the approval of the Executive Council an Annual Operations Plan with aligned strategic indicators.

The follow-up in the execution of these plans will be done from the Executive Secretariat through tools and methodologies that allow in the future the definition and implementation of a more dynamic strategy and with greater participation of the member countries. These tools will strengthen the strategic planning of the following term.

Context As a result of the contributions sent by the member countries and the associate members on the "Environmental Considerations" included in the 2007-2010 Strategic Plan and the discussions maintained in the Strategic Planning Working Group, a series of factors that considerably influence the determination of the organization strategy of the organization have been identified by the impact that they have in the work of the tax administrations.

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Macroeconomic Environment The fluctuations of the international economy condition CIAT’s activities, since they directly influence the results of the tax administrations, and their needs. Among the most relevant aspects that are affected by the macroeconomic environment, we find the following: resources available for the operation of the tax administration, tax collection and the citizens’ level of compliance.

Globalization of production and trade decisions This factor is directly linked to the new evasion and avoidance modalities which arise as a consequence of the globalization phenomena, and this leads the tax administrations to look for new techniques to detect tax fraud and assure the effective application of the tax system of their countries. In this scope CIAT plays a key role, promoting opportunities for the discussion of tax issues and providing products and services that satisfy the needs of modern tax administrations.

The New Agenda of International Organizations In the world there are many international organizations and agencies that deal with policy and tax administration issues, regionally and globally. This situation must be observed by CIAT to generate links that allow the coordination of efforts to generate synergies, thus avoiding undesirable situations: duplication of activities, "political patronage" and the inefficient use of CIAT resources and its member countries.

The Legislation This topic deserves special attention by CIAT, since legislative changes and advances directly influence various fields of action of CIAT. Another issue that can also be observed is the growing influence of the tax administration in the definition of the tax policy.

Political trends in member countries Due to different reasons this factor noticeably influences tax governance and legitimacy as well as the definition of the role of the tax administrations. Transparency, efficient budget spending, the powers of the tax administration, etc. are among the issues to observe.

Technological Advances Technological advances considerably influence the behavior of taxpayer and the tax administrations, since they generate new forms of action. For example, the tax administration can use the technology available to facilitate voluntary compliance, improve risk management and examination techniques, while taxpayers can use them to improve the management of the taxes that tax them and generate new forms of evasion or avoidance. On the other hand, this factor directly influences the manner in which CIAT manages its activities.

Ways of managing public organizations This factor significantly impacts the manner in which the tax administrations are structured, including their degree of autonomy; in the competencies that today could include customs, social security or the management of social programs; the type of human resources management or among other elements, the manner and the means in which the services are rendered.

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Social Issues There are many social aspects that must be observed by the tax administrations and CIAT, because they condition directly or indirectly the strategy that the tax administration must adopt to collect taxes and at the same time legitimize the payment thereof. For example, the tax administrations must display greater collection efforts, having to undertake more population awareness functions, risk generation and tax education in a context defined by high levels of tax pressure, lack of equality and profit distribution, high levels of informality, illiteracy and poverty and sanitary deficiencies.

The Environment In coming years, as a consequence of global warming and other climate phenomena generated by contamination, this factor has taken greater relevance. Many countries have created "green taxes" and have developed public administration management techniques which consider the environment.

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Mission

Promote international cooperation and the exchange of experiences and information and deliver technical assistance services, studies and training, contributing in this manner to the strengthening of the tax administrations of its member countries and associate members.

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Vision

To be the international organization of reference in the tax administration field, by promoting cooperation, facilitate the exchange of initiatives, experiences and information and providing quality products and services to its member countries and associate members.

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Strategic Directions and Initiatives A. Promote mutual cooperation actions between the tax administrations to prevent and fight all forms of tax fraud, evasion and avoidance and facilitate voluntary compliance.

1.

Promote the holding of information exchange agreements and other mutual administrative assistance among the tax administrations of the member countries.

2.

Support the implementation of information exchange in the tax administrations of the member countries

3.

Identify, analyze and disseminate policy and administrative mechanisms for the suppression of harmful international tax planning schemes.

4.

Establish knowledge databases on schemes detected for harmful international tax planning.

5.

Promote best practices in service quality and taxpayer attention and promote tax culture.

B. Prepare and disseminate information, studies, research and the development of good and innovative practices to improve policies and the tax administration.

1.

Collect, systematize and make available to member countries data related to the tax laws, organizational and managerial systems, tax statistics, management indicators and technological changes in member countries.

2.

Carry out studies, comparative analysis of tax legislation, organizational and managerial systems, tax statistics, technological change and indicators’ systems for the referential measurement of the tax administration.

3.

Disseminate information, studies and experiences and promote debate on issues of interest, through assemblies, technical conferences, publications and other virtual and face-to-face meetings

4.

Identify and promote the use of information and telecommunications technologies, and develop standards and solutions to facilitate the achievement of the functions of the tax administrations of member countries

5.

Implement CIAT tools for the promotion of ethics and integrity in the tax administrations.

6.

Contribute to the strengthening of the internal control and risk management systems of the tax administrations of the member countries

7.

Promote dialogue between tax administrations and key interest groups such as taxpayers and prosecutors’ intermediaries.

8.

Assist member countries and regional integration organizations in identifying and implementing measures pertaining to tax harmonization.

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C. Design, promote and execute training activities in coordination with the tax administration, to contribute towards the improvement of the levels of professionalization of its staff.

1.

Detect training needs and DESIGN CIAT training programs and evaluation systems in the legislation and the tax administration.

2.

Promote and coordinate the delivery of training programs in the legislation and the tax administration.

3.

Support the creation, development and strengthening of training centers in member countries

D. Evaluate, support and execute the implementation of technical assistance projects for the strengthening of the tax administrations.

1.

Provide technical assistance services, oriented towards the strengthening of the legislations and tax administration of member countries.

E. Develop internal management and external coordination policies to institutionally strengthen CIAT. 1.

Promote the recognition of CIAT as an entity with the legal status o fan International organization as part of its member countries.

2.

Coordinate cooperation strategies and develop activities with International organizations that act in the field of the tax administration and with other organizations when it is of CIAT’s interest.

3.

Develop, implement and maintain planning and control models which guarantee transparent, efficient and effective management of CIAT Executive Secretariat.

4.

Prepare and implement internal and external communications mechanisms which potentiate the principles, values, contents and advances of the organization.

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