African Tax Administration Forum - ATAF

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

AFRICAN TAX ADMINISTRATION FORUM - ATAF (http://www.ataftax.net/en/) is a cooperation body of the Revenue Authorities of 38 African countries. It’s mission is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of African tax legislation and tax administration in order to enhance the capacity of African governments to mobilize domestic revenue. Over the past 11 years ATAF has represented the African voice in global tax cooperation and made a valuable contribution to the implementation of the African Union (AU) Agenda 2063 and the UN SDG-Agenda. ATAF provides to its member countries peer learning, networking, consultation, research, and training, including an MA programme on taxation. A remarkable part of the work of the cooperative body is performed by the member state representatives in ATAF’s thematic working groups and as ATAF-representatives in other international meetings. The Secretariat in Pretoria tailors its action based on the demand from members. An increasingly effective tax administration supports economic growth, enhances accountability of states towards citizens and strengthens domestic resource mobilization (DRM) and use of the revenues. The Finland-ATAF partnership started in 2012. The experiences from co-financing ATAF action are positive. ATAF is requesting Finland’s support to its four strategic objectives: 1) Developing a tax cooperation forum for Africa; 2) Fostering the capacities of African tax administrations; 3) Production and sharing of African tax statistics and research; 4) Informing the regional and global tax dialogues as the African voice. ATAF-cooperation is one of the spearheads of Finland’s Taxation for Development action program. It is in coherent synergy with the partnership between the Tanzanian and Finnish revenue authorities, and with Finland’s support to Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), and the work of the OECD/UNDP Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB), EITI (Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative) and its CSO-partner Publish What You Pay (PWYP) in Africa.