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e-Revenue
The Revenue Department
Thailand

The Problem

It can be said that governments all over the world see ICT as an opportunity to improve the business of the government. One of the key areas identified in this respect has been that of tax and, specifically, the use of technology as a means of simplifying the interface between tax administrations and taxpayers. Many governments use tax administrations to lead the e-government revolution.

The Revenue Department (RD) of Thailand has embarked on the ICT initiative to bring about a revolution in tax administration since 2001. It has adopted a policy of maximising the employment of ICT in order to
• improve the quality of its services to taxpayers and upgrade to integrated service by integrating functions across the RD as well as those of external bodies
• emphasise upon a vast array of e-services and ensure convenience, flexibility and promptness
• increase efficiency of internal administration and achieve high performance through optimal use of resources
To address today’s challenge for business transformation in revenue agencies, a transition approach must offer a holistic model for tax administration. It is a difficult task for an organisation with 23,000 employees and a computer network across 956 offices nationwide that collects taxes representing two thirds of the total tax collection of the Ministry of Finance. The RD’s innovations to use IT as enabler in driving the organisation within the last five years have resulted in major changes in policy, operations and officials’ perspectives which in turn lead to significant improvements in taxpayer service.

The RD has now moved forward to proactively utilise ICT through upgrading services and integrating with external bodies to create a portal. Today e-services are developed not only for the purpose of tax collection but also the purpose of educating citizens to assist them in fulfilling their tax obligations. The RD’s website enables the citizens to access various on-line services anytime anywhere ranging from specific and advanced transactions such as e-filing and e-payment to provision of information and knowledge education. While e-filing is available for all tax returns, the RD is particularly successful with e-filing for individuals (accounting for 70% of all individual tax returns) and the implementation of faster refunds. It now encourages other users such as companies to use the e-filing initiative.

The RD has plans to improve its e-services on the website and promote self service for the citizens not only to conduct transactions with the RD but also to educate themselves through knowledge management facilities such as e-learning. In 2006 the RD drives forward to be a knowledge-based organisation by implementing e-learning for officials. It has also designed web accessability for the visually handicapped by starting with the tax law with the aim to provide tax knowledge and facilities equally to every citizen in the community.

2007 is designated as Year of Service Excellence. Therefore the RD wishes to submit a paper to outline its achievements and the future steps to continuously improve service delivery as well as improve its efficiency and effectiveness.

Solution and Key Benefits

 What is the initiative about? (the solution)
The RD’s initiative to utilise ICT as the main tool brings about a revolution in tax administration and drives towards improved level of services, transparency and efficiency. e-Revenue is the symbol of the RD’s technological innovation towards modernisation across the entire organisation through increasing utilisations of IT.

The RD has made the strategic choice of employing open standard technology, the web technology, in its operating system.

Internet enables the RD to provide better service delivery to citizens. E-services, ranging from advanced transactions such as e-filing for every tax type, e-tax settlement, e-tax registration to information services are available on the RD’s website on a 24/7 basis.

Another e-initiative is the automatic on-line real time information sharing service with the stakeholders using Web services technology. The RD’s information can further facilitate the business of the private sector as well as government agencies.

Intranet platform is the key element of modernised RD. An on-line internal management system was implemented throughout the country to enable staff to look up the current status of its clients. The RD puts an emphasis on the supervisory system using pooled taxpayers’ database in order to serve taxpayers on an individual basis.

The RD has been able to integrate ICT not only at the intra and inter-ministry level but also with other government agencies as well permit special intelligence agencies to retrieve real time information on tax returns.

The RD has plans to improve its e-services on the website and promote self service for the citizens not only to conduct transactions with the RD but also to educate themselves through KM facilities. In 2006 the RD drives forward to be a knowledge-based organisation by implementing e-learning for officials. It has also designed web accessability for the visually handicapped by starting with the tax law to provide tax knowledge and facilities equally to every citizen.

The RD’s strategy to utilise ICT as the key driver of its organisation since 2000 has culminated in more efficient and transparent tax collection and the building up of a sustainable tax base. The increase of tax collection rises up in 2006 in cost effective way from 2005 by 13%.

The RD is able to encourage the public’s utilisation of ICT to generate higher level of electronic interface. Individual e-filing increases from almost nil in 2001 to 70% of all filing in 2006. The RD is able to provide faster refund with the actual processing time down from the standard pledge by 75%.

e-Revenue enhances public acceptance as taxpayers receive better personalised services and operate in a “fair level playing field” in taxation. The e-services initiatives reduce the time and cost of the RD and stakeholders.

The integration of information systems between the RD and external bodies will enable them to interoperate across different platforms.

The RD has been able to make IT the vital part of taxpayers. The RD has become the forefront of government organisations by successfully incorporating IT into its work and emphasising on providing excellent services to citizens.

Actors and Stakeholders

 Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
1999 – launch of the RD’s website on the internet and the intranet
2001 - introduction of e-Revenue strategy
introduction of e-filing for individual users
2003 – joined up initiative to integrate ICT with other government agencies
2005 – introduction of Web services for the stakeholders - government agencies, the private sector and the public
implementation of the RD Call Centre
implementation of e-filing for all tax types
2006 – KM facilities for officials
December 2006 – internal testing of web accessability on the Revenue Code with the visually handicapped
January 2007 – implementation of web accessability on the Revenue Code for all
2007 - e-learning and improvement of knowledge base for taxpayers

(a) Strategies

 Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
 a.      What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
Mission and strategies
The RD is responsible for collecting and administering income taxes and consumption taxes which account approximately 70% of total revenue. Its mission is to:
• Collect taxes as forecasted
• Deliver service and create voluntary tax compliance
• Propose tax policies, which can be used as mechanism to strengthen the economy, society and competitiveness of the country, to the Ministry of Finance

In order to fulfill its mission, the RD has adopted the following strategies:
• Develop ICT proactively
• Drive towards knowledge-based organisation
• Build a sustainable tax base

Self-assessment tax model
The self-assessment system sets the context in which the RD operates. Self-assessment is a risk management approach based on the reasoning that revenue administration is best achieved by employing the available resources to:
• support people in doing the right thing
• concentrate reviews on cases where there is a greater risk of people not doing the right thing.

While it is expected to maximise the amount of taxes collected and ensuring compliance with the laws, it is required to improve service to the community, reduce their administrative burdens and foster voluntary compliance. The RD’s approach is framed around the twin objectives of:
• making it as easy as possible to comply
• verifying compliance using a risk management approach.

(b) Implementation

 b.      What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
In order to achieve its mission and strategies, the RD takes initiatives to utilise ICT as the main tool to bring about a revolution in tax administration. The efforts are captured and symbolised by e-Revenue.

e-Revenue encompasses two major and important areas:
(1) Interfacing electronically with external bodies comprising mainly taxpayers and the public through the internet system. In addition the RD also has an information sharing network with other organisations.
(2) Within the whole organisation, all offices nationwide can utilise ICT for internal administration purposes through intranet system. The electronic data provide an architecture that enables the RD to implement an electronic interface with external persons.

In both areas the RD pursues a whole of government or across administration approach to provision of e-business services. Due to the relatively large size of the tax administration, the RD is lead agent for the government in progressing e-business facilities.

The RD has employed strategies focusing on both the “soft” (people and software) and “hard” (computer hardware and network) factors:
- Add more on-line tax applications to the system with the aim to push towards the wider use of ICT in tax administration.
- Encourage officials and taxpayers alike to utilise ICT. Such ICT inputs indicate the ability of the RD to provide fast and convenient services both within and outside the organisation as well as to enhance performance efficiency
- Employ technology which is open standard

The RD has employed web based technology to develop ICT applications. Under the self-assessment system the RD seeks to leverage the benefits provided by e-business and optimise client service. The RD strives to promote self service in order to reduce the need for client contact. Self service enables the taxpayers to conduct their tax affairs anywhere and anytime.

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

 c.      What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
Internet

The RD has a web site www.rd.go.th available on the internet which offers information, transaction and knowledge anytime anywhere.

• e-filing and e- payment - Tax filing and payment by the internet is a complete life cycle of e-service starting from return filing, payment and data processing. All tax returns of the RD can be filed electronically. On-line tax payment can be made via the internet - tax settlement between banks and RD. Automatic tax calculation for e-filing purposes and on-line tracking of refund status can also be made on-line.

The number of individual e-filing users rose to 6.15 million in 2006 from 60,000 in 2001 and accounts for about 70% of all individual filing.

RD provides quick turnaround of refunds within 15 days as an incentive for e-filing. While the performance pledge is 15 days, down from the standard 30 day period, in fact the RD has been able to provide more than 80% of refunds within only 5 days.

• e-registration; downloading service; other services

• Web services – RD now moves forward to exploit the available on-line real time information by sharing the information with stakeholders such as the private sector, investors, academic and government agencies by using Web services technology. Currently 8 Web services are offered.

Intranet
The RD’s main tax operation system and two main supporting tax return processing application systems enable the RD to track its tax collection on a day by day basis.

E-systems are developed for the functioning of the RD’s staff and used as a tax collection tool.

E-supervision system, an on-line real time work system, has been implemented in order to support the ‘pay proper tax today no back taxes tomorrow” policy. It is a major change in operations from the past audit the mistake policy. The system provides the RD’s staff with pooled taxpayer file comprising integrated information such as tax return image, tax information, data transmission from internal transactions, integrated information from Customs Department, Excise Department, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of Commerce.

The RD has been able to integrate ICT at the intra and inter-ministry level and with other government agencies.

Furthermore intranet provides KM to foster knowledge learning and sharing.

Next steps
(1) KM The RD has recently announced the year 2007 to be the Year of Service Excellence.

e-services are now developed not only for the purpose of tax collection but also the purpose of educating citizens. The RD has plans to promote self service for the citizens not only to conduct transactions with the RD but also to educate themselves through knowledge management facilities.

(2) Web accessability for all By the end of 2006 the RD provides web accessability for the visually handicapped by starting with access to the Revenue Code to provide tax knowledge equally to every citizen. Such accessability can also be done by other mobile users. The RD hopes to improve its web accessability by providing other tax information for the handicapped in 2007.

(d) Use of Resources

 d.      What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Community
• e-Revenue has enabled the RD to provide better services to taxpayers, through on-line understanding of tax matters.
• e-services reduce the compliance costs for the taxpayer and provide a more personalised responsive tax experience with greater certainty.
• Efficient collection of tax revenues from the implementation of ICT advocates fair competition among all taxpayers and businesses. It has created a “fair level playing field” in taxation.
• E-service initiatives reduce the time and cost of the RD and the stakeholders. The sharing of the RD’s database leads to the decreasing cost of ICT development for 350,000 enterprises and 160 government organisations in Thailand.
• The RD’s achievements in e-services result in
(1) Reduced time
E-file – no waiting time
Tax refund – standard pledge = 30 days, new pledge = 15 days, actual performance = 7 days - refund time is reduced by 75%
(2) Self service via internet – 24/7 basis
(3) Number of users
e-file users – 6.15 million individuals in 2006 (70% of all individual filing) as compared to only 60,000 individuals in 2001

RD
• ICT induces officials to improve their performances in an efficient, transparent and convenient manner. We have transformed ourselves from being ‘a rigid taxman’ to ‘a friendlier tax agent’, and becoming more customer-oriented and citizen-centric.
• The RD is able to utilise the available ICT generating higher level of electronic interface. ICT utilisation increases efficiency of internal administration as well as achieves high performance. Through real time on-line applications officials may access both internal and external information in order to provide better services to the community.
• The interactive systems available through e-business facilitate error correction by the taxpayer before the information is submitted improving the quality of data. This allows more timely and accurate processing improving the client experience as well as reducing the cost of administration.
Thailand
• The RD’s strategy to utilize ICT as the key driver of its organisation since 2000 has culminated in more efficient tax collection and the building up of a sustainable tax base. Despite many tax rate deductions introduced in the last few years and the economic uncertainty, the RD has been successful in maintaining its revenue. The increase of tax collection in 2006 rises to more than 1000 billion baht up from 2005 by 13%.
• e-Revenue has spearheaded the public sector to drive towards the concept of e-government. Many government offices are using the RD’s technological innovations as a “model” to develop their IT applications and to cooperate with one another to better serve the citizens in providing one-stop services.
• The deployment of Web services represents a breakthrough of proactive ICT utilisation for the public sector in Thailand. The RD’s database is utilised not only as an internal tracking and monitoring engine for the officials resulting in the provision of better services to the clients. The RD has been able to automatically share the real time on-line information of common interest with external bodies in order to maximise the productivity of its database.

Sustainability and Transferability

  Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The RD has emphasised the importance of having a clear e-business enablement strategy and alignment with e-government goals, along with clear vision to guide the system development. A high level of consultation and collaboration with taxpayers and other key stakeholders is also an essential element of success.
To ensure that taxpayers are encouraged to use the e-services, the RD has to build web trust to enhance confidence in the system. Data security measures have been undertaken as follows:
• Data security - digital signature, encryption, certificate authority (CA) authorisation, user ID and password, web filtering, vulnerability management, patch management
• Data confidentiality – security policy
• Data integrity
• Identification of persons – CA, public key infrastructure (PKI)
• Network confidence – security, speed, availability
It is therefore incumbent on the RD to ensure that appropriate measures are followed and risks minimised. A major challenge is mainitaining security without hindering taxpayer access and user friendliness.

The RD has implemented the knowledge society within the organisation successfully. It has now started to expand the knowledge management facilities to taxpayers outside its organisation. In the future we hope to provide e-leaning initiatives to taxpayers as well as introduce on-line exams for tax auditor applicants. The system is thereby sustained by providing integrated services through media, kiosk, TV on demand to make it more convenient to access the service.

By providing services to everyone, and making sure that the services give them a better-than-before situation, the services will then be sustained by themselves.

Lessons Learned

 What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The RD’s e-Revenue strategy took off since 2001 – 5 years to build, step by step. It has resulted in transformation in the way the Thai tax administration works.

Many aspects of the Thai experience do not depend on any particular characteristics. Strong support from leaders, dedicated and skilled managers, the development and implementation of a strategic business plan, automating and restructuring control systems, strengthening the audit and supervision functions, and simplifying and reduce paper handling through appropriate use of ICT are all steps that are potentially available to other countries. Substantial and sustained efforts were required to plan all these changes, to train staff, to manage the process of change and to monitor it.

The key challenge to increasing e-filing is to stimulate demand by taxpayers. That, in turn, is dependent on continuing to increase the value of e-filing and electronic tax administration, not just for the RD, but for its customers and third party partners as well. The challenging barriers to adoption include concern about privacy and security, cost and demonstrating the value of e-filing. Lack of access to a computer and the internet will likely be a roadblock for many in this group.

In dealing with the efficiency of e-services during peakload and increasing customer confidence in information and payment security, the RD needs to increase robustness of infrastructure such as improving communication network and expanding network speed and increase investment in RD’s network (hardware and software). In order to meet taxpayers’ expectations, the RD aims to improve integrated service delivery.

It is acknowledged that despite vast improvements in the utilisation of ICT by the RD, there are still some more areas for improvement. In this regard, the RD is posed with many challenges.
• To fully harness ICT in tax administration and to encourage the full exploitation of other available technologies.
• To encourage the e-commerce take-up due to the relatively moderate number of internet users in Thailand as compared to other countries through more appropriate electronic services to users.
• To develop applications to suit the operations of the RD which is a large organisation with a complexed nature as well as to ensure intra-department and intra-government communications and interoperability
• To enhance timely processing of returns and refunds and speedy resolution of issues, standardise interface and data transfer protocols, provide simple and comprehensive views of taxpayer account information in order to dynamically tailor services to the needs of customers
• To set up Thailand standard Extensible Markup Language (XML) of e-services in tax field and create the necessary ICT architecture to develop secure systems and data transfer
• To secure sufficient fiscal budget for the development and maintenance of ICT application from the government

Contact Information

Institution Name:   The Revenue Department
Institution Type:   Government Agency  
Contact Person:   Jantima Sirisaengtaksin
Title:   Principal Advisor  
Telephone/ Fax:   662 272 8277
Institution's / Project's Website:   662 617 3280
E-mail:   jantima@mof.go.th  
Address:   90 Phaholyothin Road 7 Samsen Nai, Phayathai
Postal Code:   10400
City:   Bangkok
State/Province:  
Country:   Thailand

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