Development of the IT infrastructure and the maximum extension of the electronic taxpayers’ offices are the priorities of the SFS reform, Oleksandr Danyliuk says

On September 26, the scheduled meeting of the steering committee for the reform of the State Fiscal Service (SFS) took place which was attended by Minister of Finance Oleksandr Danyliuk, interim head of the State Fiscal Service Myroslav Prodan, State Secretary of the Ministry of Finance Yevgeniy Kapinus, advisor to the Minister of Finance Yana Bugrimova and the members of the working group for the SFS reform. 

Based on the results of the 6-week diagnostics of the SFS main functions and services, the working group for the SFS reform identified 4 core reform areas in the short-term run which were approved on August 31 at the preliminary meeting of the steering committee for the reform of the State Fiscal Service.

During the meeting, 10 priority initiatives were adopted within the four reform areas which shall be implemented within the next 2 months.

“We must speed up the implementation of the required initiatives to change the philosophy and working approaches at the SFS and to facilitate interaction between tax payers and the state. For this, we must improve the operation of the SFS services by automating the working processes to the maximum extent. We have identified how we are going to do that based on the thorough audit of the SFS IT structure. First thing, we will be improving the services and extend the functionality of the taxpayers’ electronic offices as much as possible to make people feel the difference in their interaction with the SFS”, Oleksandr Danyliuk said.

10 agreed initiatives which must be implemented immediately:

1. Transfer of the maximum number of services online;
2. Capacity development of the call center – increase of the number of personnel to improve the service quality; 
3. Preparation of the action plan and implementation of the recommendations based on the audit of the IT audit at the SFS. The goal is to establish a modern and well-protected IT infrastructure;
4. Automation of the cameral tax audits to increase their effectiveness and improve their quality;
5. Improvement of the risk-based model of tax checks – making the criteria of the risk model more detailed;
6. Segmentation and prioritization of tax debtors to continue the implementation of the strategy for direct communication with tax debtors;
7. Elaboration of a strategy and a road map to increase the volume of voluntary tax payments;
8. Survey of the satisfaction of the SFS employees with the working conditions and organization culture (Organizational Health Index); 
9. Implementation of immaterial incentives for the SFS employees – elaboration and implementation of initiatives for non-financial appreciation;
10. Review of the functional and regional distribution of the personnel.

These initiatives will significantly increase the effectiveness of the SFS. They will positively impact the working process within the SFS and can be implemented in the short-term run. It is crucial now to reach quick and proper results which shall lay the ground for further transformations.

It shall be noted that Canada, the IMF, Germany, the EBRD, the EU and the USA supported the plan of the Ministry of Finance to reform the State Fiscal Service.