Outcome Statement: ATAF ANNUAL MEETINGS 2024

1. The 2024 ATAF Annual Meetings attracted over 582 officials from Ministries of Finance and African Tax Administrations of 41 member states, Members of Parliament, Development Partners, other key partners, individual tax policy experts and private sector players. The Annual Meetings took place in Kigali, Rwanda, from 3 – 5 December 2024, hosted by the Rwanda Revenue Authority under the theme “Preparing for the Future: Revenue Administration in a Dynamic Global Landscape”.

2. Mr Richard Tusabe, Minister of State in charge of the National Treasury of the Republic of Rwanda and Chief Guest, delivered the keynote address alongside Mr Logan Wort (Executive Secretary, ATAF), Dr Phillipe Tchodie (ATAF Chairperson), and Mr Ronald Niwenshuti (Commissioner General, Rwanda Revenue Authority). He highlighted that the continent continues to be impacted by various challenges, including the debt crisis in many African countries, the geopolitical conflicts and tensions, the changing political landscape and the climate and environmental considerations. Therefore, embracing technology and digital solutions in tax administrations is central to enhancing domestic resource mobilisation capacities for African countries, which is necessary for financing development. 

3. The Annual Meetings also celebrated ATAF’s 15th anniversary by showcasing the organisation’s achievements in a preview of the ATAF Documentary. ATAF Leaders from the past and present reflected on their experiences working with ATAF, its journey and visible growth. Among these, Mr Ken Morris (former Commissioner General, Botswana), Ms Allen Kagina (Former Commissioner General, Uganda), and Mr Gershem Pasi (former ATAF Chairperson and former Commissioner General, Zimbabwe) each reflected their role in the formative years of ATAF, sighting that the agility of ATAF in responding to member needs and tenacity is the bedrock of the success recorded. These include participation in African contributions at the UN and OECD, tools like the African Tax Outlook, and the evolution of technical assistance and capacity building, which now covers 47 African countries.

4. The Annual Meetings come at a time when the global financial architecture is being redesigned, and the meetings provide a platform for discussions on how taxation plays a role in achieving developmental goals. At the same time, revenue administrations are taking strides in technological transformation to facilitate domestic resource mobilisation. Discussions on financing Africa’s future in an evolving global environment explored the urgent challenges in global finance, including climate change, health crises, and geopolitical conflicts, which expose deep inequalities in access to capital and markets. Key issues highlighted included rising borrowing costs, exchange rate risks, and the reliance on short-term, high-cost debt for long-term projects. With emergency financing skewed against Africa, the discussion stressed the critical importance of Domestic Resource Mobilization to fund the SDGs, address debt vulnerabilities, and support the African Union’s Agenda 2063.

5. Delegates debated what the future of digital transformation in tax administration would look like. This discussion focused on key priorities and actionable insights to enhance efficiency, collaboration, and taxpayer engagement across African tax administrations. Four core themes were proposed for delegates to explore to advance the digital agenda: the role of human resources (HR) as the main drivers of change, intentional national focus on digitalisation through investment in digital public infrastructure, such as increasing fibre optics and 4G coverage, the inclusion of taxpayers and management of organisational change. Taxpayer buy-in will be critical for effective digital reforms. Finally, regional collaboration was stressed as a driver for scalability and shared learning. ATAF was urged to continue facilitating peer exchanges and supporting impact assessments of digital reforms for collective capacity building. 

6. Harnessing data science for enhanced tax governance in Africa was a key topic at the annual meetings as part of the future outlook. Data management and usage in tax administration are becoming vital aspects of effective and efficient operations. Delegates shared the challenges they grapple with, such as informal economies, limited infrastructure, lack of skilled capacity and diverse taxpayer behaviours and how they have been able to leverage data science concepts such as the use of artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics, machine learning and data, processing techniques to circumvent these challenges and optimise service delivery. Delegates shared benefits from employing data science concepts, including better risk assessment, improved identification of persons liable to tax, eased taxpayer compliance, and using debt models for optimal collection of hard-to-collect debt. It was emphasised that, for data science to be beneficial and effective to tax administrations fully, it had to be built on the backdrop of a robust legal framework, a strong governance framework and a robust IT infrastructure. ATAF was urged to continue championing the adoption and use of data science techniques in tax administration procedures and help African countries realise the full benefits of these concepts for effective tax administration.

7. Additionally, two side events also looked at critical areas for the future as part of deliberating on innovation that will come from Africa: The first debated complexities of digital transaction reporting, and simultaneously, delegates debated the changing demographics in Africa and their implications for revenue collection. Delegates highlighted the importance of e-invoicing as part of a policy framework and not just a system or technology, highlighting that policy as a driver will address data security issues. To implement a well-functioning e-invoicing system, the local technology infrastructure should be adequate. The other key aspects identified included change management before, during and after the introduction of the e-invoicing system. E-invoicing enables easy traceability of business transactions, and its value lies in when tax administrations also implement data analytics solutions to collect, use, store, and share data. ATAF also launched a publication entitled “Considerations for the design and implementation of certified electronic invoicing system”.

8. The meeting discussed the changing demographics in Africa, primarily focused on (1) the continent’s unique position in the world as it currently registers the highest population growth rates, (2) the constantly evolving dynamics of how this emerging bracket of citizens interact and do business, and (3) the immense challenges this poses to the conventional approaches used by tax administrations to gather taxes. With an estimated population of about 2 billion by 2050, 60% of whom shall be below 25 years old and more predisposed to embrace noncompliance, it was agreed that the design and processes of collecting taxes must evolve to accommodate these changes. High interest in technologies and digital interactions suggests that tax administrations must accelerate investments in their digital infrastructure and platforms to engage with these taxpayers more effectively. Participants agreed that tax policy, laws, and procedures should be simplified to encourage more registrations and understanding of their tax obligations. 

9. The meeting agreed that the design of tax policy and administrative measures to respond to contemporary issues, such as the taxation of the informal sector, taxation of high-net-worth individuals, and taxation of the digital economy, should be well guided by data and statistics to ensure a targeted approach that promotes fairness and equity in the tax system. Additionally, it was agreed that mainstreaming gender in the design of tax policy and administrative structure will support the implementation of UN Sustainable Development Goal 5 on Gender Equality.

10. Taxing high-net-worth individuals is a key feature in the global tax debate and was also considered. The discussion centred on the strengths and weaknesses of legislative and administrative frameworks for taxing high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). Across most countries, tax laws generally provide sufficient tools to impose taxes on wealthy citizens. However, significant gaps remain, including (a) limited political will to tax HNWIs, often due to their political connections or direct involvement in politics; (b) inadequate integration of systems within tax administrations and between tax authorities and other government agencies; (c) substantial challenges related to data quality; and (d) the increasing emphasis on data protection, which has led to the enactment of data protection laws that restrict tax authorities from accessing critical tax-related information.

11. The informal sector in Africa accounts for between 30% and 60% of GDP in many African countries, signifying an area of potential revenue. Delegates noted that informal sector taxation should be part of economic growth strategies. They debated mechanisms and shared experiences. A presentation of the findings of the ATAF/ICTD Policy Brief on the Taxation of the Informal Sector revealed that potential large taxpayers are also players in the informal sector. In addition, the current tax policy regimes in the informal sector are violating the equity principle of taxation, leading to complex regressive taxes and creating confusion among taxpayers. Governments should consider renaming the sector to more appealing names such as emerging sector, understanding the business models in the informal sector to avoid a general approach (a one-size-fits-all all approach to taxing the sector has failed to work), increasing engagement with the taxpayers, including involving them in the tax policy design processes, introducing targeted tax incentives to the informal sector, and utilising data and data analytics to enhance compliance enforcement. 

12. Further discussions looked at the current state of health taxation in Africa, recognising the critical role of health taxes in enhancing domestic resource mobilisation and addressing one of the world’s leading causes of preventable deaths. It emphasised the importance of prioritising health taxes for African countries. The conversation covered various perspectives and recent developments in health taxation (with a special focus on tobacco taxes) across the continent, highlighting the existing landscape and identifying key policy and tax administration challenges in this area. The session explored potential opportunities and provided essential policy and tax administration recommendations. These recommendations aim to help African countries improve their health taxation systems and strengthen their excise tax administration measures. By doing so, they can better leverage health taxes to generate necessary revenue and promote public health.

13. Noting the importance of combatting illicit financial flows through transparency, delegates shared their views on improving the exchange of information in Africa. The conference noted the importance of signing the ATAF Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters (AMATM) to improve African exchanges, with Sierra Leone and Zimbabwe announcing that they were signing up to the AMATM, bringing the total signatories to seven on the continent. This is to ensure that African countries benefit from the unique features of the AMATM, such as cross-border assistance in the recovery of taxes abroad, joint audits, joint enforcement and articles for automatic exchange of information. 

14. Advancing ATAF’s work on tax and gender, the annual meetings discussed a factual link between the economic growth rate and the degree of inequality. In particular, closing gender gaps enhances economic growth and positive externalities, such as sustainable and inclusive development. This led panellists to underscore ATAF’s achievements since the ATAF Women in Tax Network (AWITN) establishment by promoting gender-responsive, sensitive, and equitable tax policies. Tax administrations should commit to capturing gender-disaggregated data to enable them to conduct gender impact assessments and inform reforms in tax systems. Finally, the commitment of the ATAF membership was solidified through the signing of the AWITN pledge by Commissioner Generals from Botswana, Burkina Faso, Eswatini, Gabon, The Gambia, Lesotho, Liberia, Morocco, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Togo, and Zambia. 

15. Noting the importance of Africa’s voice in the global tax arena, delegates discussed ATAF’s representation in standard-setting, highlighting the importance of sustaining the momentum of the discussion in the United Nations. Delegates also expressed the need for continued support in prioritising issues for developing countries in the development of the UN Framework Convention and the two early protocols and encouraged the work of ATAF in updating and informing the membership on the developments. Members were asked to ensure that a team of experts comprising of people knowledgeable in treaty negotiation and the substantive elements of the two protocols were formed, resourced and mandated to support the African diplomats in New York to negotiate the framework convention and the two early protocols which negotiation is scheduled to go on simultaneously. 

16. The Annual Meeting called on ATAF to continue supporting the membership in their participation in negotiating the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. Further, delegates requested that ATAF provide technical guidance on the taxation of cross-border service as the first protocol agreed upon by the Framework Convention. The ATAF Secretariat was also requested to provide regular updates on developments at the United Nations and the OECD to ensure that all members’ interests are considered. 

17. Delegates appreciated the work done by the ATAF Secretariat in 2024 and welcomed the finalisation and launch of the ATAF Suggested Approach on Drafting DRM Analysis in Central Africa, the Toolkit on Adoption of the ATAF Agreement on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters and the Exchange of Information Infrastructure Toolkit. The annual meetings also witnessed the signing of three memoranda of cooperation: the renewal for another three years of the MoU between ATAF and the World Bank Group and a new MoU between ATAF and the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) and the University of Pretoria. These partnerships strengthen ATAF’s ability to continue offering its members world-class service while strengthening institutional bodies.   

The Delegates welcomed the newly elected governing council of ATAF, which is made up of South Africa (Chair), Namibia (Vice-Chair), Botswana, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, and Uganda. Participants congratulated the new council and appreciated the outgoing Council led by Togo. The meeting unanimously appreciated the Republic of Rwanda for being a gracious host.