Data, Technology and Tax Administration in Developing Countries: Review of Existing Evidence

Against the recent wave of digitalisation in low-income countries, this review paper wants to take stock of what we know on the main challenges with data and technologies in tax administration. By a thorough review of the existing evidence on the topic, our researchers Fabrizio Santoro, Laura Muñoz, Giovanni Occhiali and Giulia Mascagni aim at exploring the main preconditions or “basics” that need to be in place in order to unlock the potential of digitalisation. The evidence review is accompanied by additional original evidence produced by the descriptive analysis of administrative data from a selected pool of countries, as well as by insights from in-depth interviews from tax officials in Africa. The cross-country lessons synthetized in this paper will help policy-makers and donors in better prioritising tasks and goals in their digital transformation journey.