The 2021 edition of the Tax Administration Series, like its predecessors, provides comparative information on the performance of advanced and emerging tax administrations globally and seeks to draw out the main underlying trends and challenges they face. The purpose and value of the Tax Administration Series, first published in 2004, is to assist administrations, governments, taxpayers and other stakeholders in considering how and where improvements might be made in the efficiency and effectiveness of tax administration, including through learning from what others have done.

Tax Administration 2021 is the ninth edition of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration’s comparative information series. First published in 2004, the primary purpose of the Tax Administration Series (TAS) is to share information that will facilitate dialogue on the design and administration of tax systems.

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Together the 59 tax administrations participating in the ninth edition of the OECD’s Tax Administration Series (TAS 2021) collect net revenues of EUR 12.3 trillion (2019). They are large and complex organisations employing around 1.8 million staff. They deal with the tax affairs of around 860 million personal income tax and corporate taxpayers who contact tax administration in excess of 500 million times via telephone, in-person, e-mail or paper and generate more than 1.1 billion contacts through online taxpayer accounts. The tax administrations do this on a combined operating budget amounting to around EUR 79 billion, equivalent to less than 1% of total revenues collected.

This chapter provides an overview of the content of the 2021 edition of the OECD’s Tax Administration Series.

This chapter looks at the performance of tax administrations in discharging their primary role of collecting taxes as well as the responsibilities given to them during the COVID-19 crisis. In this respect, it provides information on the aggregate net tax revenues collected as well as other key figures related to the activities of the administrations covered in this publication.

A comprehensive system of taxpayer registration and identification is critical for the effective operation of a tax system. This chapter comments on some of the issues that are of significance for registration and identification processes.

This chapter looks at the tax assessment function, which includes all activities related to processing tax returns and payments. It comments on the use of e-channels for filing and paying, outlines administrations’ efforts to provide pre-filled returns, and discusses the level of on-time return filing and payment. It also provides examples of the impact of technology and data sciences techniques on refund processes.

This chapter considers how tax administrations’ compliance goals are enhanced by providing effective and efficient services to taxpayers, often through digital services. This is helping increase voluntary compliance amongst taxpayers by making it easier to understand tax obligations, report taxable income and make payments.

Assessing the accuracy and completeness of taxpayer reported information is one of the key functions of tax administrations and critical for supporting voluntary compliance. This chapter takes a closer look at tax administrations’ work in this area, including how they manage compliance. It also briefly comments on tax administrations’ work on moving audit tasks into a virtual environment, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The collection of outstanding returns and payments is important for maintaining high levels of voluntary compliance and citizen’s confidence in the overall tax system. This chapter comments on tax administration performance in managing the collection of outstanding debt, and describes the features of a modern tax debt collection function. It goes on to provide examples of approaches applied by administrations to prevent debt being incurred.

Dispute prevention and resolution are essential features of tax systems. This chapter explores both issues by looking at dispute prevention strategies, the availability of dispute review mechanisms and tax administrations’ performance in relation to disputes.

This chapter looks at the resources devoted to tax administrations and provides information on their workforce. It sets out challenges administrations are managing in increasing their capability while managing a workforce that in general terms is reducing in size and on average is getting older.