Tax authorities globally are working to digitise their collection operations to improve collection and compliance. The has identified digitalisation as one of the most transformative trends shaping the global tax space.
The impact these efforts have had could be a good indicator of what the future of taxation looks like and what implications digitalisation might have for wealthy individuals. South Africans, meanwhile, have been able to digitally file taxes since 2001, when Sars launched its e-filing service. Once regarded as a leader in digitalised platforms for tax administrations, things were allowed to slip, with no IT upgrades from 2014 to 2018. This was reflective of a wider malaise in the revenue service in which revenues shrank for several years.
Another successful example of digitalisation is the Russian Federal Tax Service . When Mikhael Mishustin was appointed as the head of the FTS in 2010 he adopted a “digital first” strategy across the service. Mishustin is a systems engineer, which actually aided his strategy and vision. Thanks to thorough pilot testing and taxpayer-centric services, the FTS’s digital platform has been widely embraced, and revenue from personal and corporate taxes has increased.