Action programme for taxation (Fiscalis 2020), 2014-2020

The Commission presented the 2014 progress report on the Fiscalis 2020 programme.

2014 included a transition between two generations of Fiscalis programmes (Fiscalis 2013 to Fiscalis 2020).

Key strengths in 2014:

• High level of achievement of results of the Joint Actions. This indicates that the business owners see the value of the programme for achieving the policy objectives.
• Very positive evaluation of the achieved results of the Joint Actions, their usefulness and expectations met by national tax officials who participated in them. This shows that the programme participants find that the programme activities correspond to their stated objectives and are professionally useful to them. 
• Networking and sharing of programme outputs represent both a strength and a room for improvement. The indicators are high and testify to the networking value provided to the participants by the programme and to the fact that the outputs are often shared nationally through dissemination or training sessions.
• The volume of data traffic on European Information Systems significantly increased in 2014, while the performance and availability remained very high.
• The increased use of programmes information and collaboration space (PICS) by national and European tax officials. The number of online groups has nearly doubled during the year, with significant increases in the number of users and the number of exchanged files on the platform.

Main recommendations:

• Monitor the number of participants: the number of participants has been steadily decreasing over the years, with 2014 representing an exceptionally strong decrease in this respect. While this seems to be an exceptional situation due to the change of programmes, it is recommended to keep an eye on the number of participants in the future in order to evaluate whether any action aimed at reversing this trend is warranted.
• Increase awareness about the programme: national tax officials, beyond those already participating in the programme activities, should be addressed through a targeted communication strategy informing them of the programme and its potential benefits to them.
• Provide additional support to networking and the use of the programme outputs: a knowledge management policy for the use of programme outputs would open up the programme benefits to new users and facilitate the sharing and findability of programme outputs.
• Monitor the use of the new types of Joint Actions in the Fiscalis 2020 programme: the preparatory work on the introduction of these new types of Joint Actions started in 2014 and the first activities are expected in the coming period. Indicators on their use will be included in future Progress Reports.
• Improve statistics for online collaboration: better statistics are needed in order to separate customs / tax groups and users on programmes information and collaboration space (PICS), as well as differentiate among them based on more precise work areas.
• Monitor the implementation and use of the Mini One Stop Shop IT system (MOSS): MOSS became operational on 1 January 2015, meaning that the first available data on the number of registered economic operators and the use of the system will be available for assessment in the next Progress Report.