Technical Notes and Manuals

June 1, 2017

Assessing Country Risk: Selected Approaches

Description: Assessing country risk is a core component of surveillance at the IMF. It is conducted through a comprehensive architecture, covering both bilateral and multilateral dimensions. This note describes some of the approaches used internally by Fund staff to examine a wide array of systemic risks across advanced, emerging, and low-income economies. It provides a high-level view of the theory and methodologies employed, with an on-line companion guide providing more technical details of implementation. The guide will be updated as Fund staff’s methodologies for assessing country risk continue to evolve with experience and feedback. While the results of these approaches are not published by the IMF for market sensitivity reasons, they inform risk assessments featured in bilateral surveillance as well as in the IMF’s flagship publications on global surveillance.

May 5, 2017

Revenue Administration: Implementing a High-Wealth Individual Compliance Program

Description: This technical note is provided as guidance to tax administrations that are considering a program to enhance the tax compliance of high wealth individuals. The note explains the rationale for a specialized compliance program for this segment of the taxpayer base and provides guidance on defining the population of wealthy individuals. Advice is also given on how to assess readiness for such a compliance program, taking into account the legal framework, the political environment, the availability of the necessary data and the administration’s capacity to implement it. The note then gives practical advice on implementing a high wealth individual compliance program, using the compliance risk management model as its foundation.

April 27, 2017

Expenditure Assessment Tool

Description: This manual presents the Expenditure Assessment Tool (EAT), which helps assess expenditures for any specific country. EAT uses the commonly available software program Excel and has been designed by Expenditure Policy Division at Fiscal Affairs Department at IMF. The information EAT provides can be very useful in the evaluation of government spending and in the identification of areas where there may be room to increase spending efficiency or rationalize spending. The evaluation is done through benchmarking of spending—levels, composition and outcomes—against regional and income comparators. The focus is on both the economic and functional classification of expenditures. The application of the tool to spending in Argentina is presented as an illustration.

April 13, 2017

The Revenue Administration–Gap Analysis Program: An Analytical Framework for Excise Duty Gap Estimation

Description: The IMF Fiscal Affairs Department’s Revenue Administration Gap Analysis Program (RA-GAP) assists revenue administrations from IMF member countries in monitoring taxpayer compliance through tax gap analysis. The RA-GAP analytical framework for estimating excise gaps presented in this Technical Note sets out the steps and data required for comprehensive top-down gap estimates based on a comparison of actual collections to potential collections, which is estimated from consumption (or use) and expenditure of excise commodities. The note outlines the motivation for, and different approaches to, excise gap estimation; and identifies the design criteria for robust gap estimates. The note was jointly produced by RA-GAP team and the Slovak Republic’s Institute for Financial Policy, piloting the framework for the mineral oils excise gap in Slovakia.

April 7, 2017

The Revenue Administration–Gap Analysis Program: Model and Methodology for Value-Added Tax Gap Estimation

Description: The IMF Fiscal Affairs Department’s Revenue Administration Gap Analysis Program (RA-GAP) assists revenue administrations from IMF member countries in monitoring taxpayer compliance through tax gap analysis. The RA-GAP methodology for estimating the VAT gap presented in this Technical Note has some distinct advantages over commonly used methodologies. By using a value-added approach to estimating potential VAT revenues, as compared to the more traditional final consumption approach used by most countries undertaking VAT gap estimation, the RA-GAP methodology can provide VAT compliance gap estimates on a sector-by-sector basis, which assists revenue administrations to better target compliance efforts to close the gap. In addition, the RA-GAP methodology uses a unique measurement for actual VAT revenues, which isolates changes in revenue performance that might be due to cash management (e.g., delays in refunds) from those due to actual changes in taxpayer compliance.

March 14, 2017

Use of Technology in Tax Administrations 3: Implementing a Commercial-Off-The-Shelf (COTS) Tax System

Description: This technical note is the third of three addressing information technology (IT) themes and issues relevant to tax administrations. This note focuses on implementation of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system in a developing country tax administration. The first note covers the use of IT in tax administrations and how to develop an information technology strategic plan (ITSP). The second note addresses how to select a suitable information technology system for core tax administration functions. These technical notes are primarily tax administrations that have no technology to manage their core tax processes, or their technology is limited and outdated. These notes focus on core tax functions and do not address other business systems (e.g., payroll, finance, document, and asset management systems).

March 14, 2017

Use of Technology in Tax Administrations 2: Core Information Technology Systems in Tax Administrations

Description: This technical note is the second of three addressing information technology (IT) themes and issues relevant to tax administrations. This note addresses how to select a suitable IT system for core tax administration functions. Note one covers the use of IT in tax administrations and how to develop an information technology strategic plan (ITSP). The third note focuses on implementation of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system. These technical notes are primarily for tax administrations that have no technology to manage their core tax processes, or their technology is limited and outdated. These notes focus on core tax functions and do not address other business systems (e.g., payroll, finance, document, and asset management systems).

March 14, 2017

Use of Technology in Tax Administrations 1: Developing an Information Technology Strategic Plan (ITSP)

Description: This technical note is the first of three addressing information technology (IT) themes and issues relevant to tax administrations. This note focuses on the use of technology in tax administrations and how to develop an information technology strategic plan (ITSP). It is intended for tax administrations that are largely manual or have outdated legacy IT systems. The second note addresses how to select an IT system for core tax administrations functions. And the third note covers implementation of a commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) system. These technical notes are primarily for use by tax administrations that have no technology to manage their core tax processes, or their technology is limited and outdated. These notes focus on core tax functions and do not address other business systems (e.g., payroll, finance, document, and asset management systems).

October 27, 2016

A New Tool for Distributional Incidence Analysis: An Application to Fuel Subsidy Reform

Description: Increased focus on income inequality and distributional issues has made incidence analysis a crucial input into policy decisions. This note presents the theoretical framework used to conduct incidence analysis of fuel price subsidy reform and presents a user-friendly tool for its application. This new tool requires limited inputs and has the advantage of using the commonly available software program Excel. The note presents an illustration based on the case of Brazil, using the 2005 household survey and input-output table. The results reinforce the typical finding that fuel subsidies benefit well-off households and that their removal would be progressive.

Notes: Distributional Analysis of Fuel Subsidy Reform (Excel Template)

September 15, 2016

Implementing Accrual Accounting in the Public Sector

Description: This technical note and manual (TNM) explains what accrual accounting means for the public sector and discusses current trends in moving from cash to accrual accounting. It outlines factors governments should consider in preparing for the move and sequencing of the transition. The note recognizes that governments considering accounting reforms will have different starting points across the public sector, different objectives, and varying coverage of the existing financial statements, it therefore recommends that governments consider each of these, and the materiality of stocks, flows and entities outside of government accounts when planning reforms and design the sequencing and stages involved accordingly. Building on international experiences, the note proposes four possible phases for progressively increasing the financial operations reported in the balance sheet and operating statement, with the ultimate aim of including all institutional units under the effective control of government in fiscal reports.