Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB), a joint initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is a unique approach to capacity building that deploys experts in developing country tax administrations to provide practical, hands-on assistance on actual tax audits and related international tax issues. This report looks back at TIWB’s achievements from July 2020 to June 2021, during a time when the COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on the health of both people and economies, with developing countries hit the hardest. Over the past year, governments have been caught between the need to provide income support and liquidity to individuals and businesses and trying to maximise revenue collection to finance spending programmes. Tax administrations are playing a crucial role in delivering pandemic responses and maintaining revenue collections. For developing countries that have limited fiscal space to begin with, including many that are already heavily indebted, this has been extremely challenging. In a period of tight fiscal space, and as tolerance for tax avoidance and evasion continues to drop, this report demonstrates the clear relevance TIWB has for domestic resource mobilisation in developing countries. With its niche mandate and a track record of efficient and effective revenue collection for tax administrations, TIWB can help countries raise the revenues needed to overcome the pandemic’s socio-economic repercussions. Reflecting this, the UN has included TIWB as part of its Menu of Options for Consideration of Heads of State and Government Part II to identify and promote concrete financing solutions to the COVID-19 emergency and its recovery.1 Since 2012, TIWB and TIWB-style audit assistance, including anonymised casework conducted during joint workshops with the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the OECD, and the World Bank Group (WBG) has led to impressive results in terms of increased tax revenues and tax assessments in participating countries. A total of USD 1.4 billion in additional tax revenues collected and USD 3.9 billion in additional tax assessed are attributed to these programmes across Africa, Asia, and Eastern Europe, as well as Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). TIWB programmes grew in the past year as a result of geographic expansion, a widening of the scope of assistance available, and requests for additional programmes from satisfied Host Administrations. As of 30 June 2021, TIWB programmes spanned 47 jurisdictions with 47 completed and 43 current programmes, including 17 South-South programmes. To respond to the particular challenges of delivering technical assistance during the pandemic, TIWB prioritised remote assistance, which allowed operations to continue effectively. TIWB has traditionally focussed on providing assistance on complex transfer pricing audits, but the same model of hands-on assistance is equally applicable to other types of tax audit and investigation. The TIWB model has been expanded to cover criminal tax investigations, a crucial element in the global fight against Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs). The initiative is also exploring opportunities for pilot programmes on the effective use of automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI), taxation of natural resource contracts and taxation and the environment. Staying relevant and maintaining high-quality programmes is essential in the crowded international capacity building space. In 2019, TIWB conducted an internal stocktake to identify how the initiative could be improved and updated to continue responding to demand and ensuring that programmes meet the needs of Host Administrations. This stocktake generated concrete recommendations that TIWB has been implementing over the past year, including by expanding its Roster of Experts, developing a new monitoring and evaluation system, introducing e-learning modules and establishing a mentorship programme. Furthermore, the UNDP’s new Country Office Engagement Strategy has been developed to improve co-ordination of TIWB programmes with other initiatives at the country level and create synergies with UNDP’s work fostering long-term institutional development. In a challenging year, TIWB has persevered in delivering additional revenue and building critical specialised skills that can improve the overall performance of developing country tax administrations in the longer term, making it an indispensable tool in the efforts to improve domestic resource mobilisation. With the collaboration of the many development partners that provide funding and expert resources, TIWB continues to expand in scope and reach.
