Digital realm is future of taxation

In early March, Nortal LLC arbitrated an event aimed to share Estonian involvement of developing an operative and simple taxation setting and to talk about the challenges of IT infrastructure and strategic ideas for the future of taxation. 

The March 8 event was hosted in Muscat and included leaders of Estonian Tax and Customs Board (ETCB) and Oman's Secretariat General For Taxation (SGT).

Rein Lang, head of the Estonian Tax and Customs board; Marek Helm, head of policy and legislative advisory in Nortal; Aule Kindsigo, senior tax consultant and former director of the tax department at ETCB; and Andres Raieste, representative of Nortal LLC, make up the Estonian delegation.

“It means that collecting taxes will be done with minimum administrative costs and the collected resources will be used with maximum effectiveness when providing benefits to the society,” Lang said. “But it also means that the whole process of declaring the taxes is transparent and user-friendly.”

The group was able to establish a plan for collaboration moving forward and the exchange of thoughts and ideas, ending with a departure of goodwill and positive thoughts for the future.

“In Estonia, the declaration of taxes has been made easy for both private citizens and businesses alike,” Lang said. “For the average citizen, the declaration of yearly taxes is a matter of minutes. As a result, the Estonian Tax and Customs board has repeatedly received recognition for being one of the most user-friendly and customer-related institutions in Estonia. We hope that sharing our experience will help Oman build a system that would be as effective and easy.”