A new report published on Monday 19 July by the OECD’s Forum on Tax Administration weighs up the pros and cons of remote working by tax administrations in a post-Covid-19 environment.
The pandemic has forced many tax administrations to close their offices and move to remote working in order to continue to perform their essential functions. Now many are beginning to think about maintaining some degree of remote and more flexible working in the future.
The report does not provide recommendations for specific measures, but aims to help tax administrations in their thinking towards a long-term use of remote working that is sustainable for employers, employees and taxpayers, the OECD says.
Among the benefits of remote work identified in the report is the improvement of work-life balance, with remote working often offering greater flexibility for people with family responsibilities or those wishing to work part-time.
According to the report, remote work also provides increased resilience in that it can mitigate the risks associated with events that may affect physical sites, such as power outages or natural disasters.
In terms of costs, the report recognises that remote working reduces current expenditure on building maintenance as well as capital expenditure. There are also environmental benefits in terms of reduced commuting.
“However, realising those benefits is not without challenges, and it may not be possible or necessarily desirable to simply ‘roll-over’ the operating model changes that were developed at great speed to facilitate the shift to remote working in the early stages of the pandemic”, the report says.
Tax administrations wishing to maintain a greater degree of remote working in the future should take into account several considerations, including ensuring that the working environment is appropriate and secure, the report says.
Mechanisms to ensure an inclusive, collaborative and creative culture when employees are not able to interact physically should also be put in place.
Finally, tax administrations should also ensure that taxpayers’ data is secure when dealing with a tax official working remotely, but also that these taxpayers receive the same level of professionalism and service.
“None of these challenges are insurmountable”, the report says, but they will require careful consideration before contemplating any changes.
See the report: https://bit.ly/3eygQmB (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)