Revised and targeted tax policies will be essential to recovery from the economic decline generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Governments are urgently introducing both short- and long-term measures that reduce additional government burdens that impede businesses from addressing their current challenges, such as reduced sales and employee security, and looking at the finance pricing issue. But do these measures consider the bigger picture and ensure a higher level of economic resilience to future shocks?
What these policies look like, however, will vary per country. Within Central & Eastern Europe, there is no one-size fits all solution. While developing national recovery plans, decision-makers should look at the OECD designed recommendations on tax policy and tax administration relief measures, adhere to the major EU initiatives in the field, and consider the national macroeconomic model forecasted by the IMF and World Bank. As governments focus on stabilising the economy during and after the pandemic, it is especially important that citizens' needs are at the centre.
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We at PwC strongly believe that the tax reforms and efficiency of tax authorities are essential for the stability and the sense of equality in any society, especially in the period of crises. Also we work on new digital tools that are increasing the accessibility of taxpayer service to citizens and businesses. We maintain the dialogue with the policy makers and bring new and innovative ideas in the distribution of the tax burden.
Digitalisation will play a large role in bringing tax services closer to the people, and easing the process for both officials and citizens. Solutions dedicated to taxpayers in their interaction with the authorities, such as online cash registers or e-invoices, can lead to significant reduction of tax gaps. According to the Swedish Tax Administration Strategist Anders Stridh, tax administration needs to understand the taxpayer's environment as a system in order to process their information more efficiently. To make this system work, digitalisation processes should consider the emotions and desires of those who go through this process. In addition, it is also important to build tax management adaptable IT systems that are prepared to respond to new challenges.
These challenges were discussed at e-TAXCON’20, the first online tax conference in Moldova. The conference, hosted by AmCham Moldova with support from PwC, brought together 400 tax professionals from across the region (Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Armenia), as well as speakers from EU Member States, UK and the US. e-TAXCON has served as an unique platform for tax professionals to exchange knowledge.
The topics of this year’s conference included:
Harmonisation of the national legislation with the acquis communautaire in the tax field,
Tax issues related with businesses going digital,
Creating more efficient tax administration via digitalisation, and
COVID-19’s impact on tax policies around CEE.
PwC partners provided insights that leveraged our global network and regional expertise, with William Morris from PwC US, Karl-Heiz Haydl from Pwc Germany, and Daniel Anghel from PwC Romania.
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