Person:
Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix

Last updated: February 24, 2024

Biography

Raúl Félix Junquera-Varela is global lead on domestic resource mobilization at the World Bank. He has more than 40 years of experience in public sector reform, with a particular focus on tax administration and customs. He held senior positions at the Spanish Revenue Agency from 1984 to 1998, including as director of a regional Tax and Customs Office and senior national tax auditor in the Large Taxpayer Office. He headed the Spanish Diplomatic Mission at the Inter-American Centre of Tax Administration and served as public finance counselor to the Spanish Embassy in Panama from 1998 until 2004. In 2005, he joined the International Monetary Fund as technical assistance adviser in the Revenue Administration Division of the Fiscal Affairs Department. In 2009, he joined the World Bank as senior public sector specialist in the Public Sector Governance Department. His research interests include institution building and operational reform of revenue administrations, and he has authored numerous publications on these topics. He is an economist, a lawyer, and a certified public accountant. From 1990 until 1992, he was professor of tax law at the University of Oviedo, Spain. From 2005 until 2015, he was professor of the Master of Public Finance program of the Institute for Fiscal Studies of Spain.

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Revenue Administration Handbook
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-02-22) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Lucas-Mas, Cristian Óliver
Revenue Administration Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the structure and management of tax and customs administrations, covering topics such as tax policy design considerations that impact tax administration, institutional setup and strategic planning, analytical capacities and maturity models, core business processes, and tax sanctions. It also presents pioneering work in the field of digital transformation and how to build data science capabilities, including a roadmap for policy makers and tax officials on how to incorporate and manage disruptive technologies, such as machine learning, into building modern revenue administrations while taking into account their respective maturity levels. This practical manual provides examples from real-life World Bank projects so that policy makers, tax officials, information technology experts, and information and communication technology providers can better understand the needs of revenue administrations to design and implement the most appropriate technology solutions. This reference work is intended to serve as a tool to facilitate the progress and modernization of tax and customs administrations worldwide, and to reach not only tax experts and policy makers, but also other government officials, businesses and academic communities, as well as the larger public, since all are relevant stakeholders with an active role in day-to-day revenue administration operations. ------------------------- “This is a very timely and useful reference for tax practitioners and stakeholders, coming at a time when tax administrators continue to grapple with the challenge of how to accelerate the modernization of technology systems to remain effective in a rapidly advancing and technology driven business environment.” MOSES WASIKE, Senior financial management specialist, World Bank “This is an impressive piece of work that pulls together many different strains on tax administration.” JEFFREY OWENS, Director, Global Tax Policy Center, Vienna University “Applying several technologies discussed in this handbook in an innovative manner will definitely help leapfrog countries to pursue a digital transformation agenda, especially in the areas of efficiency, productivity, and citizen satisfaction.”
Digital Transformation of Tax and Customs Administrations
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2022-06-30) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Lucas-Mas, Cristian Óliver; Krsul, Ivan; Calderon Yksic, Vladimir Omar; Arce Rodriguez, Paola
Domestic resource mobilization has become a core priority of the sustainable development agenda for tax and customs administrations. Information systems can play a critical role in revenue mobilization, which may create the much-needed fiscal space for maneuver and allow for more spending on all the things that drive potential growth over the medium term. New technologies can also increase the effectiveness of the internal operations of tax and customs administrations, and can reduce costs, as they improve their capacity to collect revenue with smarter use of the information they collect. Of particular interest is machine learning, which can be used to solve difficult problems that arise from the inability of revenue administrations to process massive amounts of data efficiently. Technology by itself can only provide tools. To achieve meaningful and impactful goals, a comprehensive strategy must be defined, covering the regulatory, institutional, and operational aspects. This paper analyzes such aspects and provides a roadmap for policymakers and tax officials on how to incorporate and manage disruptive technologies into the process of building the tax and customs administrations of tomorrow.
Tax Theory Applied to the Digital Economy: A Proposal for a Digital Data Tax and a Global Internet Tax Agency
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-03-02) Lucas-Mas, Cristian Óliver; Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix
Digital technology allows businesses to operate in a country without a physical presence, which poses challenges for traditional taxation. The digital debate focuses on direct taxation and the creation of new taxing rights arising from the tax claims of market jurisdictions on income obtained by foreign digital suppliers conducting business therein without any physical presence. Tax Theory Applied to the Digital Economy analyzes the tax-disruptive aspects of digital business models and reviews current tax initiatives in light of traditional tax theory principles. The analysis concludes that market countries’ tax claims are unsubstantiated and contravene the most basic foundations of tax theory, giving rise to a series of legal, economic, tax policy, and tax administration issues that policy makers cannot overlook. The authors propose establishing a digital data tax (DDT) that is a license-type consumption tax, rather than an income tax, on the international supply of Internet bandwidth to access digital markets. The DDT can be applied either globally or unilaterally, and could become a significant source of tax revenues for market jurisdictions. It is aligned with tax principles and it does not conflict with other tax initiatives: the DDT taxes foreign digital companies as consumers, while income tax proposals tax them as suppliers. The authors also propose creating a new global Internet tax agency (GITA) under the auspices of the United Nations that would provide a neutral forum for political discussion and technical assistance in the area of digital taxation. The digital economy is a global phenomenon that requires a global solution: the creation of global taxing mechanisms and global institutions that provide technical assistance and support for successful global implementation. The book explains difficult technical concepts in plain language and contributes to the digital tax debate in a way that can be understood by anyone. Such understanding is essential to obtaining global support, achieving tax compliance, and fostering multilateral tax cooperation.
COVID-19: Tax Policy and Revenue Administration Implications
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-06-22) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Lucas-Mas, Cristian Óliver
This note brings together current thinking among global and regional teams on governance and institutional approaches to dealing with COVID-19. With a focus on tax policy and revenue administrations, it presents governance and institutional reforms that could support revenue administration responses to the pandemic.1 COVID-19 has brought about a new normal in which work practices should change. Shocks usually trigger responses, and a productive response here will be to automate tax and customs services over the medium term and to massively accelerate the use of digital and virtual technologies.
COVID-19 and Taxation: Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-04-21) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Alvarez Estrada, Daniel; Lucas-Mas, Cristian Óliver
The objective of this working paper is to provide guidance on the dilemma that governments are facing because of the economic crisis triggered by COVID-19. Measures adopted by governments during the contention phase to alleviate cash flow pressures on taxpayers require budget expenditures that exacerbate revenue losses from reduced tax bases. In parallel, governments are struggling with public expenditure needs that call for creating fiscal space. During this crisis there has been a significant increase in digital transactions as well as an acceleration of digital economy business models and trends. As a result, new income sources have appeared, and governments must find ways of taxing them. The first part of this paper provides guidance on practical measures that may be applied by tax authorities to strengthen cash management and alleviate cash flow constraints on taxpayers. Most of these measures are applicable primarily during the contention phase of the COVID-19 health and economic crisis, but there are others well positioned to support the recovery phase. This paper elaborates on some of the recommendations profiled in the ‘Revenue Measurements on Tax and Customs’ document produced by the Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Growth unit,2 which serves as the umbrella document for this one. The main scope of this paper is to further develop specific practical measures for improving the cash management of businesses and households faced with liquidity constraints during this period. It also provides recommendations to revenue administrations for improving compliance and receipt monitoring during the contention phase. The second part of this paper focuses on post-crisis measures that may compensate for the fiscal deficit generated by cash flow management and temporary tax relief measures. This paper is a continuation, from a cash flow management perspective, of previous World Bank Group research conducted in the areas of fiscal policy and revenue administration implications in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thinking Strategically about Revenue Administration Reform: The Creation of Integrated, Autonomous Revenue Bodies
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2019-11) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Awasthi, Rajul; Balabushko, Oleksii; Nurshaikova, Alma
Over the past two decades, two trends in tax administration reform have emerged – granting increased autonomy to tax administrations and establishing a unified integrated revenue authority (IRA) charged with administering both tax and customs laws and, in some cases, social security. This paper reviews the theory and practice of these revenue administration models and synthesizes lessons learned from the World Bank’s engagement with clients in recent years. The paper looks at several case studies across the world on the reform design as well as results of integration or increased autonomy. Semi-autonomous and integrated revenue administration models have the potential to bring crucial improvements to the efficiency and effectiveness of tax administration. The implementation shows both successes and challenges. The paper concludes with listing pre-conditions for these reforms including need for comprehensive approach of combining increased autonomy with improved administration processes and anticorruption efforts; importance of building collation of all revenue bodies prior to integration; and focus on non-revenue collecting functions of customs administration.
Strengthening Domestic Resource Mobilization: Moving from Theory to Practice in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-06-16) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Verhoeven, Marijn; Shukla, Gangadhar P.; Haven, Bernard; Awasthi, Rajul; Moreno-Dodson, Blanca
Public spending plays a key role in the economic growth and development of most developing economies. This book analyzes revenues, policy, and administration of Domestic Resource Mobilization (DRM) in developing countries. It provides a broad landscape of practical examples, drawing from lessons learned in World Bank operations across Global Practices over the past several decades. It should be thought of as a starting point for a more comprehensive research agenda rather than a complete inventory itself. This book reviews the trends in tax revenue collection in developing countries. It provides an overview of efforts to close the revenue gap, many of which have been supported by World Bank operations. The book reviews the special challenges facing low income countries, which have traditionally relied on indirect revenues in the context of limited formalization of their economies. An overview of tax policy and administration reform programs is presented, with an overview of outstanding issues that will shape the policy agenda in years ahead.
Peru - Selected Issues in Fiscal Policy: Taxation and Equity
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2015-06-11) Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Vostroknutova, Ekaterina
This report takes an in-depth look, from a policy perspective, at the trade-offs between increasing tax collection and improving the equity of the fiscal system. As part of this effort, the report places the Peruvian tax system in an international context and considers the key challenges the government is facing in its drive to increase revenue. It also conducts qualitative and quantitative analyses of the impact of taxes and transfers on inequality and on the distribution of income. The report then makes several policy proposals that would increase tax collection without jeopardizing equity, and it then simulates the impacts of these changes on collection and equity. This advice spanned the 2012-2014 period, and included research on several tax policy-related issues, such as legal advice on double-taxation treaties and in-depth analyses of tax exemptions. To keep the focus tight, some of the work is not included in this report. Contributions were originally written in Spanish to provide the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) with timely advice on the subject and were discussed with the counterparts during and immediately after its preparation. As a result of prioritizing this process, two teams focused on different areas of research and were able to contribute to the analytical base behind the ongoing tax reform. The report summarizes the main elements of this process and resulting advice. It comes out at the same time as the finance ministry announces the first set of tax reforms that were informed by this work.
El Gasto Tributario en Colombia: Una propuesta de evaluacion integral y sistematica de este instrumento de politica publica
(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012-06-01) Moller, Lars Christian; Junquera-Varela, Raúl Félix; Alvarez, Daniel
El presente estudio forma parte de un programa de servicios de conocimiento programático ofrecido por el Banco Mundial. El objetivo global de esta iniciativa, preparada por el Departamento de Política Pública en la región de América Latina y el Caribe (LCSPE), es el fortalecimiento de la política fiscal y del crecimien¬to económico. Uno de sus principios más importantes es la flexibilidad de su contenido, considerando las demandas del cliente. El programa está vinculado a la Alianza Estratégica entre el Gobierno de Colombia y el Banco Mundial, apoyando a un mejor gestión fiscal, financiera y del riesgo, bajo el objetivo de “creci-miento incluyente con productividad mejorada”. En términos concretos, se busca fortalecer la política fiscal, tanto en el lado del recaudo como en el del gasto. Aparte del estudio presente, se contemplan otros estudios vinculados como: (1) un análisis de la política de redistribución fiscal en Co¬lombia; (2) un estudio del sistema pensional, para apoyar al Gobierno en el proceso de preparación de la reforma pensional; (3) un ejercicio de análisis fiscal en el nivel descentralizado. Finalmente, el programa de servicios de conocimiento tiene un vínculo importante con el Préstamo Programático para Políticas de Desarrollo a favor de la Recuperación del Crecimiento y la Sostenibilidad Fiscal, cuyo objetivo es aportar a un conjunto consolidado de reformas fiscales del Gobierno.