FAQ 

1. What does ATAF stand for?

The African Tax Administration Forum. The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) is a platform to promote and facilitate mutual co-operation among African Tax Administrations (and other relevant and interested stakeholders) with the aim of improving the efficacy of their tax legislation and administrations.

2. When was the idea of ATAF first proposed?

The idea of establishing ATAF is the result of deliberations at a conference attended by African tax commissioners from 30 countries and representatives of international organisations and donors who met in Pretoria, South Africa in August 2008 to discuss Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development. ATAF was proposed as an African initiative for Africa by Africa.

3. What issues and concerns gave rise to the idea of forming ATAF?

During deliberations at the Pretoria conference in August 2008, it became clear that a new way of thinking about tax collection in Africa was required. Delegates increasingly became aware of the need to think beyond tax collection as a purely technical or administrative exercise, and rather to understand that the broader role of domestic resource mobilisation is support of social and economic development. In addition delegates realised that the efficient and effective administration of tax collection had wide-ranging political significance in entrenching accountability, promoting democratic governance and state building as it focuses on the relationship between the taxpayer and the government.

4. What is the main aim of ATAF?

The Forum’s goal is to become the central platform for African tax administrators to articulate African tax priorities, develop and share best practices in the region and further afield, and build capacity in African tax policy and administration through peer learning and knowledge development.

5. What function will ATAF serve?

It will provide a dedicated resource for research and knowledge-sharing around revenue collection in Africa, including devising common policies, strategic vision and regional cooperation.

6. Who can join ATAF?

Membership of ATAF is open to tax administrations of all African states who commit to ATAF’s objectives and who pay an annual membership fee. The fee structure takes into account the differences among African countries and is based on the principles of transparency, simplicity and fairness. It has been benchmarked against other institutions with similar budgets such as the African Union, Southern Africa Development Community and East African Community. To benefit from the perspectives and experiences developed beyond Africa, ATAF will also collaborate with other relevant organisations, which could be granted associate member status based on the degree of interaction.

7. What is the current membership of ATAF?

The current ATAF membership is made up of 34 African countries.

8. What are ATAF’s focus areas?

Technical workshops and international dialogue are a core part of ATAF’s capacity development programme. The priority areas for 2010 included the auditing of multinational enterprises, tax treaties and transfer pricing, the reform of tax administrations, exchange of information, tax avoidance and combating bribery.
ATAF has collaborated on several research projects, including those on Good Financial Governance and Domestic Resource Mobilisation.  Other projects include those on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters and on Transfer Pricing. 

As a long term objective to help African countries meet their sustainable development and poverty reduction goals, as well as enhance good governance in the African region, ATAF is working towards establishing an African Tax Centre in collaboration with interested development partners.

9. What sort of support has ATAF received from international organisations?

From its inception, the ATAF initiative has received support from significant international organisations and leadership forums. The establishment of a tax administration forum for Africa was well-received by world leaders at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila, as well as by the African Ministers of Finance Committee of Ten in Abuja, both in July 2009.

Other organisations, in the capacity of development partners, have had a central role collaborating, in one way or another, towards the establishment of ATAF through financial support (notably from the African Development Bank, GTZ from Germany, the Netherlands Foreign Ministry, Irish Aid and DFID from the UK) for the Africa Tax Conference in Pretoria, while Japan and the UK Tax Administration have also helped with the costs of providing technical expertise.

The OECD has played a significant role as a development partner in facilitating international dialogue at ATAF technical events through the provision of the technical input and expertise associated with its Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA).