Governments in African countries rely heavily on tax revenue to finance their development projects and public services. However, tax collection in many African countries is plagued by inefficiencies, low compliance, and inadequate revenue mobilization. The World Bank estimates that sub-Saharan Africa has one of the lowest tax-to-GDP ratios in the world, with an average rate of 17.2%, compared to the global average of 23.1%.Tax collection in Africa is hindered by a number of factors, including weak tax administration, low levels of tax compliance, and limited access to technology. The lack of advanced technology and automation in tax administration has resulted in manual and paper-based systems that are inefficient, costly, and prone to corruption. This has made tax collection and compliance difficult, and has limited the amount of revenue that governments can generate from taxes.To overcome these challenges, African governments are increasingly turning to technology as a means of improving tax collection efficiency and increasing revenue mobilization. Technology adoption in tax administration has the potential to improve tax compliance, reduce the costs of tax collection, and increase revenue collection. The adoption of technology can also improve transparency, accountability, and reduce the potential for corruption in tax administration.This article explores the use of technology in tax collection in African countries, with a focus on its impact on tax collection efficiency. Specifically, the article examines case studies from Rwanda and Kenya, two African countries that have made significant progress in using technology to improve tax collection efficiency.The article begins with a literature review that discusses the challenges facing tax collection in African countries, the benefits of technology adoption in tax administration, and the factors that influence tax collection efficiency. The literature review also examines the existing literature on the adoption of technology in developing countries and the lessons that can be learned from these experiences.Next, the article describes the research design and methodology, including the case studies used in the research and the data collection methods. The case studies focuses on the use of technology in tax collection and administration in Rwanda and Kenya, and the impact of technology adoption on tax collection efficiency in these countries.The results of the research are presented and analyzed, including an examination of the impact of technology adoption on tax collection efficiency in Rwanda and Kenya. The article discussed the factors that facilitated or hindered technology adoption in these countries, and the lessons that can be learned from their experiences.The article provides a detailed case study of the tax system and technology adoption in Rwanda and Kenya. The case study examined the current state of tax collection in these countries, the technologies used to improve tax collection, and the impact of these technologies on tax collection efficiency.Finally, the article concludes by summarizing the main findings of the research and discussed the implications of the results for tax policy in African countries. The article suggests areas for future research on the adoption of technology in tax collection and administration in African countries.Overall, the article contributes to the existing literature on tax collection efficiency and technology adoption in developing countries. It provides insights into the challenges facing African countries in tax collection and administration, and the potential of technology adoption to overcome these challenges and improve tax collection efficiency.

This report looks at effective e-service provision by tax administrations, summarising eight critical areas, and explores big data management and portals, as well as natural systems. It highlights key opportunities, looking at how these emerging technologies can be best used by tax administrations.

This report is the ninth edition of the OECD's Tax Administration Series. It provides internationally comparative data on aspects of tax systems and their administration in 59 advanced and emerging economies.

Building on previous FAD work in the tax administration field, this paper defines broad criteria for diagnosing the problems in a country’s tax administration and formulating an appropriate reform strategy. To be effective, this strategy should be based on the size of the tax gap and the country’s particular circumstances. This paper discusses some guiding principles which have provided the basis for successful reforms, including: reducing the tax system’s complexity, encouraging taxpayers’ voluntary compliance, differentiating the treatment of taxpayers by their revenue potential, and ensuring the reform’s effective management. Also discussed are specific bottlenecks that hinder the effectiveness of the tax administration’s operations.

This report provides an overview of best practices in tax debt management, with a particular emphasis on how to better differentiate debtors when deciding how to best secure payment and what can be done to ensure that payment issues are considered earlier in the compliance and collection process.

Background: Information Communication Technology (ICT) continues to play a significant role in transforming the administration of tax. It improves interaction between government and its citizens, transactional and informational. A number of studies have focused on ICT and tax administration, however, the full extent of its impact from these studies remains relatively unknown. This study reviews the literature on tax administration and ICT in order to acquire a structured view of its impact. Main purpose of study: To perform a systematic literature review of published articles to comprehend the impact of ICT on tax administration. This study provides a structured overview of the academic journal publications on ICT and tax administration. Method: This study adopts a systematic literature review approach. Academic articles published between 2007 and 2017 are reviewed to assess the impact of ICT on tax administration. These academic articles were sourced from renowned databases, namely: Scopus, Web of Science and Proquest. Only highly rated ABDC journal articles were analysed for the purpose of this study. Results: A total of 18 academic journals were sourced which specifically discuss ICT and tax administration. The study revealed that ICT positively impacts on tax administration. It creates an enabling environment for effective and efficient tax administration through simplification and continued audits through improved techniques and tools. Furthermore, taxpayeraÌ22́Ơ4́Øs perceptions improved as a result of reduced administration costs and increased voluntary compliance, improved governments decision-making strategies through increased revenue collection, tax planning and performance management. Moreover, it improves exchange information between governments through ICT information sharing techniques. Conclusions: The study revealed that ICT affects tax administration as follows: tax simplification, an audit tool, decision-making tool, impacts user perceptions and fairness towards compliance, and an information sharing tool with other tax agencies. However, it is recommended that additional studies should be undertaken from the policy perspective. The scope of this research article can be expanded to include articles published in journals other than the ABDC list and alterative years to that covered in this study.

This paper addresses core challenges that all tax administrations face in dealing with noncompliance—which are now receiving renewed attention. Long a priority in developing countries, assuring strong compliance has acquired greater priority in countries facing intensified revenue needs, and is critical for fairness and statebuilding. Series: Policy Papers