What you will learn
Tax evasion and tax avoidance affect us all. Every year, billions of euros of public money are lost in the EU due to tax evasion and tax avoidance. It occurs within a country and across countries both within the EU and globally. The cross-border nature of tax evasion and avoidance make it difficult for purely national measures to have the full desired effect. That is why a single country cannot solve the problem on its own.
Fighting tax evasion and tax avoidance is also essential for fairer and more efficient taxation as such acts deprive the countries of the money they need to fund public services and undermine public confidence in the fairness of the tax system.
The workshop will outline different modes of tax evasion and avoidance and will familiarize participants with different approaches and measures tax authorities can use to effectively combat and reduce the scope of tax evasion and avoidance activities. In particular, it will look into the use of preventive versus repressive measures, and discuss possible ways to raise taxpayers’ confidence in the tax system by fostering transparency and improving tax service. It will promote the experience-sharing and the sharing of best practice among participants about what countries can do to strengthen their tax system against evasion, and improve tax collection.
How you will benefit
By the end of the workshop, participants will have:
- Learned about different strategies used to detect tax evasion and avoidance early where it arises
- Gained a practical guidance on how to effectively address the risks when identifying tax evasion and tax avoidance
- Discussed how a less intrusive and more focused investigation approach by tax inspectors can pay off and result in more tax collected
- Discussed possible ways of educating the public with the aim to raise taxpayers’ confidence in the tax system
- Learned by exchange of experiences from other countries
Who should attend
The course has been designed for senior- to mid-level officials from tax and customs administrations dealing with tax evasion and avoidance
Your contributions
Much of the workshop will be devoted to discussions focused on the case studies. Country-specific experience will also be discussed. The sessions will allow participants and experts to share views and experiences on tackling tax evasion and avoidance effectively.
Apart from the plenary sessions, participants will split into small groups to discuss the case studies. These groups will report in plenary sessions to give participants the opportunity to share their views.
