About this learning event

This workshop aims to deepen participants' understanding of the informal economy and how governments can address it to increase public revenues. The workshop will cover topics such as the definition, size, causes and consequences of the informal economy, along with the range of policy options to tackle it. A key focus of the workshop will be on distinguishing between two segments of the informal economy: those individuals and businesses who earn a significant amounts but evade taxes, and those who earn too little to meet the thresholds for income or VAT taxes. Additional topics will include the taxation of online workers and e-commerce, as well as the gender aspects of the informal economy.

Following topics will be also discussed:

• The informal economy as a multidimensional phenomenon (highly adaptable to the “zeitgeist”).
• Informal economy in connection to new (e.g. tech) trends (platform work/gig economy, exploiting global supply chains.
• Informal economy business models constantly evolving (e.g. unregistered vendors moving form streets to the digital markets).
• Shifting from fully informal to various combinations of hybrid modes (seamlessly connecting with the flows of the formal economy).
• Nature of informal economy in modern economies and developing alike (hydra-like resilience).

Participants will with help of  faculty briefly touch the theory of the informal economy and then dive into practice – from discussing strategies, action plans and coordination aspects, to detecting and measuring it. 

This workshop aims also to connecting the region by sharing experience - what works, what does not and why is it so.

Who should attend

This worlshop is designed for tax administration officials involved in defining the strategic directions of the administration, as well as officials from tax departments within ministries of finance who work on tax administration and compliance issues.

Faculty

• Tilen Božič, CEF Associate Fellow

Practical information

Travel, accommodation and hospitality costs for up to two selected participants from Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina (up to three), Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, Georgia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Türkiye, and Ukraine will be covered by the Ministry of Finance of the Netherlands, the Ministry of Finance of the Slovakia, and Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovenia.

Partners

This learning initiative is supported by: