Topics considered at the I Technology Meeting
Despite the controversies regarding the capacity for innovation of the Latin countries, there was talk about innovation –and much indeed- at the I Technology Meeting organized by the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations –CIAT- held in Miami (Florida U.S.A.) last October.
In this meeting some companies presented their devices in great detail –fiscal equipment- and their specific applications for tax administration, dealing either with tax management in a broad sense or else with respect to specific spheres of action (Automatic Information Exchange, Country by Country Reporting, etc).
Other companies, however, participated by strongly reflecting on the opportunities afforded to the tax administrations by the ICTs. They expressed such ideas as the necessary capacity for innovation, flexibility and adaptability as key elements for the future, or the permanent search for integrated and common interest solutions for the Administrations and the taxpayers, conceived and designed for the longer term, so as not to develop applications or services that may turn out to be obsolete at the time they are implemented.
Also discussed was the creation of equipment to manage the trends and patterns that may impact the activity of the tax administrations, the reflection and permanent action regarding the need for human capital, considering the provision of new skills –by reinforcing training- and the necessary stake for the planned and scheduled investment in data analysis and treatment.
The Tax Administration Service of Mexico referred to its experience with electronic invoicing, which system was developed in collaboration with Microsoft by taking advantage of the computer services in the “cloud”.
On its part, ENCAT –National Organization of Tax Administrators of Brazil – presented some of the invoicing solutions that have been implemented in that country and which have been very successful. One of them is the retail sales electronic invoices (NFe) –which replace the vouchers generated by the fiscal printers– and allow the consumer to verify the validity of the document issued, the origin of the purchase, as well as reduce the use of paper and, in general, simplify taxpayer obligations.
It seems that this is only the beginning. The tremendous strength of electronic services in tax administration in Latin America appears to be enhanced by ICT advances, in terms of computer power, storage capacity, connectivity, size and cost reduction. But above all, because of the existence of a very young population that was born with a smartphone under the arm.
By way of example, in 2015, 3,500 million electronic invoices were issued in Brazil; 1,022 million in Argentina; 367 million in Chile which was the pioneer administration and 1,279 million invoices in Ecuador. In 2015, based on the previously mentioned model, Mexico issued 5,782 million electronic invoices, while Uruguay issued 363 million1.
Indeed, on this side of the Atlantic, there are severe demographic, social and economic difficulties for reducing poverty, improving the living and health conditions of its citizens or for achieving greater institutionality and quality of democracy.
Nevertheless, it is also true that the generalization of products and services derived from ICT is causing significant changes and transformations.
What can we conclude from this I Meeting? First of all, that an approach to the private sector within a framework of transparency and mutual trust is possible -and desirable. This exchange of experiences is beneficial to all tax administrations; whether those that hire their services and products from the private sector, or those that have their own means for developing their applications.
Secondly, and perhaps most important, that the tax administrations, inasmuch as they are in charge of collecting the necessary public resources for financing public policies, must play a leading role and be in the forefront of these changes by directing innovation in their sphere of action, in order to open the way and serve as guide to other sectors of the Administration and public services.
That is, the tax administrations must get to work and not think that “the light shed by electricity is as good here as where it was invented” but rather quite the opposite.
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Data included in the Comparative Study of Electronic Invoicing in Latin America. October 2016. Amexipac.
http://amexipac.org/estudios.html
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