Publication: Improving Taxpayer Service and Facilitating Compliance in Singapore
Loading...
Published
2000-12
ISSN
Date
2012-08-13
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Over the past ten years, the government of Singapore has sought to modernize and computerize Singapore. Tax administration was one area of public administration that clearly required modernization. In 1992 the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) was created to administer income and property taxes and a new value added tax called the Goods and Services Tax. Planning began to develop an integrated, computerized approach tax administration, which was soon reorganized on functional lines. This process has had made impressive results. In a survey, 95 percent of individual taxpayers, 83 percent of corporate taxpayers, and 93 percent of goods and services taxpayers said they were satisfied with IRAS services. This note discusses what Singapore has done to improve the taxpayer service and how it was done.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Bird, Richard M.; Oldman, Oliver. 2000. Improving Taxpayer Service and Facilitating Compliance in Singapore. PREM Notes; No. 48. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11406 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Can Electronic Tax Invoicing Improve Tax Compliance?(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-03)This paper reviews the Republic of Korea's experience with electronic tax invoices for its value-added tax regime from the perspectives of tax policy makers and administrators. The paper evaluates Korea's implementation of electronic tax invoicing and analyzes its effect on tax compliance through enhanced transparency of business transactions and taxpayer services. First implemented in 2011, mandatory electronic tax invoicing has been credited with lowering tax compliance costs and raising the transparency of business transactions. Effective policy design and implementation have contributed to the country's success with electronic tax invoicing. Measured in transaction value, the electronic tax invoice adoption rate reached 99.8 percent in the first year and rose to 99.9 percent by 2013, compared with 15 percent before electronic tax invoicing became mandatory. According to a survey of taxpayers and tax practitioners in Korea that was conducted as part of this research study, 69.4 percent of the respondents agreed or strongly agreed that mandatory electronic tax invoicing has contributed to curbing value-added tax evasion by raising transaction transparency, and 72.9 percent agreed or strongly agreed that it has improved taxpayer service by facilitating the convenience of tax filing or automating the issuance of invoices. The review of Korea's experiences gives credence to the contention that well-planned and well-executed compulsory electronic tax invoices can materially enhance tax compliance through significant institutional and perceptual changes in tax administration.Publication Bangladesh - Revenue Mobilization Program for Results: VAT Improvement Program Technical Assessment(Washington, DC, 2014-01)This operation will support the VAT Improvement Program to assist the National Board of Revenue (NBR) in streamlining and modernizing Value Added Tax (VAT) operations and establishing an integrated VAT Management System for the purposes of implementing the new regime. The primary focus of the program is to prepare the administration to be able to administer the new VAT, which is to be introduced in July 2015. The new VAT Act, 2012 provides for a modern VAT scheme based on few exemptions and self-assessment. The Act provides the legal basis for the new VAT administration, and the impetus for a shift from manual to automated and modernized core tax business processing. The program is part of the government s broader tax reform agenda as articulated in the Tax Modernization Plan 2011-16 (endorsed by Parliament in June 2011), which envisages policy and institutional reform alongside a program for automating NBR operations to improve services to taxpayers, reduce administrative costs for taxpayers, and improve compliance. The VAT improvement program aims to widen the tax base by enhancing voluntary compliance, and reducing non-compliance. The ultimate goals are to increase VAT revenues and enhance the transparency of the VAT administration in Bangladesh in order to achieve its medium-term revenue target of a tax-to GDP-ratio of 12.2 percent by FY 2016; and to enhance the VAT compliance. Towards this objective, the program will also address those structural weaknesses embedded in the tax system that result in skewed tax bases and provide wide opportunities for evasion and corruption. Importantly, the VAT improvement program will support the strategic reform agenda, also supported by the IMF s Extended Credit Facility to enable NBR to fully implement the new VAT law.Publication Czech Republic Report on an Integrated Revenue Administration, Volume 2(Washington, DC, 2008-06)The Czech authorities invited the World Bank to provide an independent evaluation of the Government's draft plan for the merger of the Tax and Customs Administrations, and with an eye on the eventual integration of the collection of social contributions into a newly created revenue authority. In Volume I of this report, we present a preliminary examination of the Government's draft plan for tax and customs merger. Volume II does a preliminary assessment of the issues relating to integrating collection of social contributions within the tax administration.The assessment of the Government's plan in this report is intended to assist the Government in taking a more informed decision on this issue based on lessons learned from international experience. Integration and fundamental reforms are complex processes and require adequate time, financial resources and careful management of the change process itself in order to be successful. In the report, we have pointed out the key challenges and risks and how these can be overcome. We have flagged the major issues that the Government must consider, and highlighted the challenges that the Government must be aware of when designing the establishment of a modern, unified revenue administration. We have recommended a medium term strategy that will take into consideration the key issues and concerns.Publication ICT Solutions for Energy Efficiency(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2012)The report is focused on showing a wide range and variety of ways in which Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) solutions could play a transformative role, and so the bulk of the report provides case studies of actual examples of ICT solutions already developed and in action to enable energy efficiency in three particular areas, namely, smart logistics, smart grid/smart metering, and smart buildings. Ultimately, in line with the WBG's charter, this study is concerned with the question of how ICT can play a transformative role in developing countries'climate-smart future. However, as the World Development Report 2010 recognized, this is bound to start in higher-income countries, which have the incentives (being high-energy and high-cost users), the technical know-how and the resources to innovate and implement pioneering solutions to cut their costs and their carbon emissions. Some such solutions will have applicability to the developing world; a minority right away, more year by year as technology is proven and efficiencies of scale kick in. The report concludes with some thoughts, drawn out of these case studies, on the trajectory of ICT in energy efficiency in the world generally, but especially within the focus areas of logistics, the grid and buildings, and on what these case studies might mean for developing countries and their priorities in terms of energy efficiency.Publication Case Flow Management : Key Principles and the Systems to Support Them(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2013-01)It has become increasingly clear that courts across the globe must do more to better organize and manage their caseload and that automation alone is not the answer. In response to this need, case flow management has emerged to become the central method of promoting greater court responsibility and accountability for efficient case processing. For over thirty years court case management concepts have evolved, starting in the United States (U.S.), spreading to other industrialized common law countries initially. Yet, for many judicial systems, the concept, techniques, and supporting systems of case flow management are still relatively new ideas that need to be more fully understood. This paper helps develop a basic understanding of case flow management by defining the concept, outlining the various techniques used, presenting in general the different case management information systems that support those techniques, and outlining the core steps a judicial system can take to plan for, select, and implement case management software. The aim is to provide an introduction for assisting judiciaries in developing a case flow management approach that works best in their own environment. This paper is organized as follows: chapter one gives introduction; chapter two answers the question to what is case flow management within a court environment?; chapter three answers what are case management information systems?; chapter four focuses on planning for, selecting, and implementing new case management software; and chapter five gives conclusions.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Classroom Assessment to Support Foundational Literacy(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2025-03-21)This document focuses primarily on how classroom assessment activities can measure students’ literacy skills as they progress along a learning trajectory towards reading fluently and with comprehension by the end of primary school grades. The document addresses considerations regarding the design and implementation of early grade reading classroom assessment, provides examples of assessment activities from a variety of countries and contexts, and discusses the importance of incorporating classroom assessment practices into teacher training and professional development opportunities for teachers. The structure of the document is as follows. The first section presents definitions and addresses basic questions on classroom assessment. Section 2 covers the intersection between assessment and early grade reading by discussing how learning assessment can measure early grade reading skills following the reading learning trajectory. Section 3 compares some of the most common early grade literacy assessment tools with respect to the early grade reading skills and developmental phases. Section 4 of the document addresses teacher training considerations in developing, scoring, and using early grade reading assessment. Additional issues in assessing reading skills in the classroom and using assessment results to improve teaching and learning are reviewed in section 5. Throughout the document, country cases are presented to demonstrate how assessment activities can be implemented in the classroom in different contexts.Publication World Development Report 2017(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2017-01-30)Why are carefully designed, sensible policies too often not adopted or implemented? When they are, why do they often fail to generate development outcomes such as security, growth, and equity? And why do some bad policies endure? This book addresses these fundamental questions, which are at the heart of development. Policy making and policy implementation do not occur in a vacuum. Rather, they take place in complex political and social settings, in which individuals and groups with unequal power interact within changing rules as they pursue conflicting interests. The process of these interactions is what this Report calls governance, and the space in which these interactions take place, the policy arena. The capacity of actors to commit and their willingness to cooperate and coordinate to achieve socially desirable goals are what matter for effectiveness. However, who bargains, who is excluded, and what barriers block entry to the policy arena determine the selection and implementation of policies and, consequently, their impact on development outcomes. Exclusion, capture, and clientelism are manifestations of power asymmetries that lead to failures to achieve security, growth, and equity. The distribution of power in society is partly determined by history. Yet, there is room for positive change. This Report reveals that governance can mitigate, even overcome, power asymmetries to bring about more effective policy interventions that achieve sustainable improvements in security, growth, and equity. This happens by shifting the incentives of those with power, reshaping their preferences in favor of good outcomes, and taking into account the interests of previously excluded participants. These changes can come about through bargains among elites and greater citizen engagement, as well as by international actors supporting rules that strengthen coalitions for reform.Publication Unlocking Blue Carbon Development(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-11)The purpose of this paper is to provide a practical framework to guide governments in catalyzing and scaling up public and private investment in Blue Carbon as part of their blue economy development. It does this by describing in detail a Blue Carbon Readiness Framework, a step-by-step, well-illustrated guide with simple checklists. Client countries can use the illustrations and checklists to determine their readiness to catalyze and scale up investment in blue carbon credit finance. The Blue Carbon Readiness Framework consists of three pillars: 1. Data and Analytics; 2. Policy and Institutions; 3. Finance.Publication World Development Report 2011(World Bank, 2011)The 2011 World development report looks across disciplines and experiences drawn from around the world to offer some ideas and practical recommendations on how to move beyond conflict and fragility and secure development. The key messages are important for all countries-low, middle, and high income-as well as for regional and global institutions: first, institutional legitimacy is the key to stability. When state institutions do not adequately protect citizens, guard against corruption, or provide access to justice; when markets do not provide job opportunities; or when communities have lost social cohesion-the likelihood of violent conflict increases. Second, investing in citizen security, justice, and jobs is essential to reducing violence. But there are major structural gaps in our collective capabilities to support these areas. Third, confronting this challenge effectively means that institutions need to change. International agencies and partners from other countries must adapt procedures so they can respond with agility and speed, a longer-term perspective, and greater staying power. Fourth, need to adopt a layered approach. Some problems can be addressed at the country level, but others need to be addressed at a regional level, such as developing markets that integrate insecure areas and pooling resources for building capacity Fifth, in adopting these approaches, need to be aware that the global landscape is changing. Regional institutions and middle income countries are playing a larger role. This means should pay more attention to south-south and south-north exchanges, and to the recent transition experiences of middle income countries.Publication Fixing the Foundation(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-09-20)Countries in middle-income East Asia and the Pacific were already experiencing serious learning deficits prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-related school disruptions have only made things worse. Learning poverty -- defined as the percentage of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text -- is as high as 90 percent in several countries. Several large Southeast Asian countries consistently perform well below expectations on adolescent learning assessments. This report examines key factors affecting student learning in the region, with emphasis on the central role of teachers and teaching quality. It also analyzes the role education technologies, which came into widespread use during the pandemic, and examines the political economy of education reform. The report presents recommendations on how countries can strengthen teaching to improve learning and, in doing so, can enhance productivity, growth, and future development in the region.