Programme
DIGITAX Research Programme
The DIGITAX programme generated knowledge and evidence as well as delivered advice and support to governments and other stakeholders on overcoming challenges and leveraging opportunities at the interface of digital financial services (DFS), digital IDs, and tax.
Our robust, relevant, and cutting-edge research looked at:
• the taxation of mobile money and other DFS, and;
• the digitalisation of tax systems across lower-income countries, with a particular focus on Africa.
DIGITAX, which ran from 2020 to 2024, was funded by the Gates Foundation.
Key Resources
Opinion and Analysis
How digital public infrastructure could transform tax administration in Africa
News
ICTD launches DFS TaxMap: A comprehensive visualisation tool on taxation of digital financial services in Africa
Publication
Taxing Mobile Money in Africa: Risk and Reward
DIGITAX Research Programme Library
Media coverage
ICTD work on mobile money markets cited in regional news agency
Opinion and Analysis
From real estate to crypto in Uganda: navigating tax policy in a changing world
Media coverage
Devex cites ICTD blog on DPI in Africa
Opinion and Analysis
Bridging the divide: Rwanda’s quest for equitable digital governance
Opinion and Analysis
Taxes, trust, and transparency: Lessons for Ghana’s fiscal future
Ghanaian President John Mahama’s government presented its much-awaited 2025 budget last month. In it, Finance Minister Cassiel Ato Forson outlines…
Opinion and Analysis
From Identification to Stronger Tax Administration: Can Digital IDs Deliver?
In many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), strengthening state capacity and expanding the tax base are fundamental to improving public…
News
The implications of digital payments for tax administration – Insights from the Inclusive FinTech Forum 2025
What is the potential of digital finance, a cashless economy and system interoperability for strengthening tax administration in lower- and…
Media coverage
ICTD-RRA paper cited in The New Times
Opinion and Analysis
Ghana’s e-levy: 3 lessons from the abolished mobile money tax
In person
•
Timezone: UTC
Virtual
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Timezone: Europe/London
Virtual
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Timezone: Europe/London
Virtual
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Timezone: Europe/London
Virtual
•
Timezone: Europe/London
Virtual
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Timezone: Africa/Kigali
We are delighted to contribute to the 10th Annual Conference of the Economic Policy Research Network, Rwanda, which this year has been organised around the theme Boosting Economic Resilience to Economic Shocks. ICTD Research Director, Giulia Mascagni, has given welcome
Virtual
•
Timezone: UTC
The global digital public infrastructure (DPI) agenda is substantially informed by experiences from the Global North and South Asia. Africa has its own vast array of contributions to add to the debate. In a historic move, under India’s G20 Presidency
Virtual
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Timezone: Africa/Dar_es_Salaam
Co-hosted by Tanzania Revenue Authority, the International Growth Centre (IGC), and REPOA, the inaugural International Conference on Tax for Growth aims to “bring together world-leading researchers and policymakers to discuss questions relating to enhancing domestic resource mobilisation and strengthening tax
In person
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Timezone: Africa/Accra
Virtual
•
Timezone: Europe/London
At a time when many African countries are facing strong fiscal pressures, the rapidly growing digital financial services sector – in particular mobile money – is a natural source to which some have turned in search of tax revenue. But
In person
•
Timezone: Africa/Dar_es_Salaam
Virtual
•
Timezone: Europe/London
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIT8OXnAYmA&ab_channel=InternationalCentreforTaxandDevelopment DIGITAX is delighted to announce the second webinar in DIGITAX’s e-levy series ‘The devil in the detail: Examining Ghana’s new e-levy from a policy design perspective’. There has been much debate around the implications of the e-levy since it