How you have benefited

We were seeking answers to the challenges experienced by tax officials and assess risks to compliance with resources allocated on the basis of priorities identified in a sound risk management process. We discussed the difference between the managers whose mandate is to minimize the risks and keep the current system operating and leaders whose role is to pursue changes and create new systems. We addressed possible approaches to successfully introduce changes as an integral part of the ongoing efforts to reform a tax administration. Additionally, we exchanged views on the performance measurement, which is essential for accountability and transparency, and belongs to the broader process of strategic and operational planning.

By the end of the workshop we have:

• Reflected on the importance of leadership in transformation process
• Elaborated change management plans and responsiveness to changes in the tax environment
• Discussed how to build a powerful guiding coalition and communication plan in support of change
• Learned about the key tasks in implementing a performance management system
• Assessed the framework of the tax administration’s structured governance, strategic planning, autonomy, professionalism, accountability and monitoring

What you have learned

In this interactive workshop we explored various ways of coping with organizational changes, discussed different change strategies and problem solving practices.

We addressed the following areas:

• Performance outcome areas of the Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT)
• Performance management
• Leadership tactics and role of senior management
• Governance, reinforcing change and resistance management
• Country cases, reforms of the national tax systems in Montenegro, Albania, Romania and Macedonia
• Talent management programs
• Information driven tax administrations

Participants were actively engaged in discussions and group exercises, and encouraged to share their experiences and country practices.

Who attended

The workshop was primarily envisaged for general directors of tax administrations, their deputies and other senior management staff.

No fee was charged for the officials working in the public sector. Travel and accommodation costs for up to two participants from Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Romania and Ukraine were covered by the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands. The costs of travel and accommodation of the self-funded candidates from the SEE region and beyond were covered by the participants and their sponsoring institutions. Meals and refreshments were provided during the event.

Please see General Information on Learning at the CEF.

Faculty

Miomir M. Mugoša, Director of the Tax Administration of Montenegro

Vasilika Vjero, Director General of the General Taxation Directorate of Albania

Vasilika has a long experience working for the public administration in Albania. Before joining her current position in 2016, she was directing Albanian National Center of Business Registration and Licensing since 2013. For a period of more than 10 years, Vasilika has been working for the local government (Tirana Municipality) serving first as the director of the department in charge of the illegal building in Tirana region, and then as the general director of local taxes and revenues of the Tirana Municipality for six years. During her last three years within the Municipality of Tirana she occupied the position of General Director of Strategic Planning and Budget Department.

A part of central and local government work experience, she has a large working involvement also for non for profit initiatives in the fiscal field (projects implemented in Albania and supported by the World Bank Group, UNICEF, UN, the German Freidrich Ebbert Foundation, etc.).

Daniela Manoli, Director General for Strategy and International Relations, National Agency for Fiscal Administration, Romania 

With an experience of over 20 years in Romanian Tax Agency, working in several departments (as collection, monitoring and strategy), Daniela was appointed five years ago as project manager of Revenue Administration Modernization Project, a large program developed with the support of the World Bank. During her career, she has been challenged in a wide area of daily activities, dealing with strategies development and implementation, legislation drafting, implementation of projects, introducing new concepts, such as business process redesign, enterprise architecture, change management, etc. One of her latest achievements has been the finalization of the NAFA first tax gap studies (VAT, PIT, CIT and social contributions).   

Gordana Pejović, Assistant Director of the Large Taxpayers Division, Tax Administration of Montenegro

Marjan Mihajlovski, Assistant in Debt Management Department, Public Revenue Office, Macedonia

Desie Meijer,  Team Manager, Tax and Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands

After completing her study on Public Governance at the University of Tilburg in 2011, Desie started her first job at Qredits, a microfinancing company that supports SMEs in the Netherlands. In 2013 she moved to Shanghai to continue working in the financial sector, where she worked in the field of risk management. When she came back to the Netherlands in 2014, she took part in a two-year management program at the Dutch Tax Administration. The aim of this program is to develop and train potential strategic talents for top leading positions at the organisation.  After succesfully completing the program Desie started as the youngest team manager at the Breda office, where she is currently responsible for about 25 employees.

Bert van den Boorn,  Strategic Advisor for International Affairs, Tax and Customs Administration, Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands

Throughout his career, Bert has held numerous positions: he has worked as a Tax Auditor; a Team Leader Small and Medium Companies at the NTCA; a Deputy Director in one of the 13 regions of the NTCA; a Director in the Office for Foreign Tax Payers; a Trainer and Management Consultant. Apart from the above-listed, he has been a Co-Director of the Department of Objection, Complaint and Appeal and a Co-Director of the Department of Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax. Bert has as well been a City Director in Asten and Nuenen.

Bert's interest and thus, education, also reaches out to Clinical and Social Psychology and Mediation. He has work experience as a therapist in a hospital, as well as a coach and mediator.

Steffen Norman Hansen, Revenue Administration Advisor for Southeast Europe, International Monetary Fund

Steffen works for the IMF Fiscal Affairs Department and has been based at the CEF since June 2014. He works with colleagues from national tax administrations in the SEE region, helping them develop modern European tax systems and fight against tax evasion, using a sound risk analysis system. At the CEF, Steffen helps with delivering the Tax Policy and Administration learning program. Before joining the IMF, Steffen was a Danish Customs and Tax Administration official with a wealth of experience across all tax administration and customs components of revenue administration.

Reading resources

Leading Change, Why Transformation Efforts Fail, John P. Kotter, Harvard Business Review

Revenue Administration: Performance Measurement in Tax Administration, William Crandall, Fiscal Affairs Department, International Monetary Fund

The Balanced Scorecard -Measures that Drive Performance, Robert S. Kaplan and David P. Norton 

 

Partners

This learning initiative was supported by: