The TADAT Secretariat in collaboration with the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) have released a new Insights Paper. You can download Tax Administration Challenges in Africa: A Comparative Analysis from Findings of the Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool Assessments here:, English, French, Portuguese, Chinese.

The TADAT Secretariat in collaboration with volunteer TADAT assessors, released a High-Level Machine Learning Analysis of 135 TADAT Assessments’ Results. You can download TADAT Linkages - Machine Learning Algorithms here: English.

You can download PERFORMANCE OUTCOME AREA (POA) 1 – Integrity of the Registered Taxpayer Base – Essentials of a High Integrity Taxpayer Register here:, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese.

The TADAT Secretariat is producing a series of papers under the TADAT Insights banner. You can download the first one, which explains the 2019 TADAT Impact Survey,here.

The TADAT Secretariat is producing a series of videocasts that further explore TADAT-related topics and stories. You can check them out on our Youtube channel.

The study seeks to gauge the extent to which TADAT standards have been effective in improving the performance of tax administration in URA, taking both qualitative and quantitative approaches. An organisation-wide survey was conducted, making use of questionnaires, interviews and focus group discussions to collect data. You can read the report here.

In May 2019, the TADAT Secretariat conducted a survey to gauge the extent to which the TADAT framework: (i) is being used by TADAT-trained persons; and (ii) is impacting the strengthening of tax administration performance through prioritized improvements. A total of 1,922 email-invitations were sent out to the global community of TADAT-trained persons (assessors and non-assessors) and 1,053 responses (55 percent) from 109 countries were received. You can read about the results here.

Recently, the TADAT Secretariat conducted training for the Honduras Revenue Authority, which helped prepare tax administration officials for the upcoming TADAT assessment. Watch the video below for an inside look at the training!

The TADAT Secretariat is pleased to announced that it has launched a new podcast series. The TADAT Podcast explores the impact of TADAT by drawing on stories of past assessments, trainings, and other outreach activities. Please check it out here

The VoxDev article – Tax Administration Matters for Firm Productivity - elaborates, for the wider public, the essence of the the IMF working paper co-authored by Era Dabla-Norris, Munawer Khwaja, Duncan Cleary and Florian Misch. The research, using TADAT assessment scores from about 20 countries, and World Bank enterprise survey data, shows that the quality of service provided by tax administrations has a significant effect on productivity of small and young firms. It underscores the point that tax administrations that provide good services, not only help revenue collection but also play a role in the development of SMEs and start-ups.

The Head of the TADAT Secretariat, Justin Zake, recently spoke with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) about TADAT and its global impact.

The TADAT Secretariat continues to receive permission from country authorities to publish the results from TADAT assessments. Please find the publicly available PARs here.

During the Annual Meetings of the IMF and World Bank (October 7-9, 2016), the European Commission signed a US$2.2 million contribution to the TADAT Trust Fund. Please see the complete press release here.

During July 2016, the NRA took the initiative to conduct TADAT training for its senior and middle management staff. The 33 participants took a mock TADAT exam, conducted a mock assessment, and prepared a mock performance assessment report. The initiative was championed by Mr. Alfred Akibo-Betts, Deputy Commissioner, Domestic Tax Department (DTD). The NRA’s preparations provided a participatory, open, and transparent environment that increased the capacity of its officials to take a critical look at the what, why, and how of tax administration in Sierra Leone. This preparatory work greatly facilitated the formal August 2016 TADAT assessment. Please see the complete press release here.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its development partners launched new phases of the Managing Natural Resource Wealth (MNRW-TF) and the Revenue Mobilization (RM-TF) trust funds during the annual steering committee meetings held in Washington from June 14–15, 2016.

Further, the Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) June 16, 2016 steering committee meeting discussed the implementation successes and ongoing development of the tool and agreed the 2016/17 strategic work and operational program.

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A very successfully first TADAT Assessment Leadership course was hosted by the Center for Excellence in Finance in Ljubljana, Slovenia during the period January 18 – 21, 2016.

The workshop developed by the Training Resource Group Inc and customized for TADAT, was attended by 11 trained assessors representing various organization: IMF; IMF-CAPTAC; the World Bank; GOPA mbH, a GIZ-funded project; Federal Ministry of Finance, Germany; the Norwegian Tax Administration; State Secretariat for Economic Affairs—SECO; United States Agency for International Development; European Commission—DG ECOFIN and DG-TAXUD; and Tax Administration of Kosovo. Participants were exposed to well-tested and proven approaches to managing missions by Training Resource Group Inc.—TRG facilitators Graeme Frelick and Joni Herman. Mr. Justin Zake and Ms. Irina Kouropatkina from the TADAT Secretariat brought to the attention of participants the practical aspects of TADAT assessments, while participation of Mr. Berlin Msiska, Commissioner General of the Zambia Revenue Authority was invaluable in providing a TADAT assessment recipient’s perspective as well as how to effectively present assessment results to the authorities. The participants rated the course highly with 100% overall satisfaction rating it 5 out of 5.

The TADAT Secretariat conducted a Training workshop for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) officials on December 16-18, 2015. It was delivered by the TADAT Secretariat, with some guest lecturers from the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF. The workshop was very interactive. Participants were exposed to the TADAT assessment framework (outlined in the TADAT Field Guide) including TADAT’s technical design and content, reflections on tax administration good practices, the scoring methodology for each Performance Outcome Area and relevant indicators.

The 3-day TADAT training workshop concluded with the TADAT online exam. Of the 22 participants, 11 eligible candidates took the TADAT exam and passed successfully. 10 participants are qualified (based on the TADAT criteria) to be given “Trained TADAT Assessor” certificates.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Middle East Regional Technical Assistance Center (METAC) held a workshop on the recently launched Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) in Amman, Jordan from December 9 – 11, 2015. The workshop was held in association with the TADAT Secretariat in Washington DC and was attended by senior representatives of tax authorities and finance ministries from the METAC countries. In total, 23 delegates from 6 countries attended. The countries represented were: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Sudan and the West Bank and Gaza.

The workshop provided a detailed introduction to the TADAT methodology illustrated by the practical examples and reflections on tax administration good practices. In the three days prior to the regional workshop, the TADAT Secretariat ran a dedicated national workshop for 23 senior staff from the Jordanian authorities. This was funded by USAID Jordan Fiscal Reform Project and supported by METAC, and represents a good example of inter-agency coordination.

The lively discussion during both workshops indicated a high level of interest in the use of the TADAT approach. Delegates also had the opportunity to sit the TADAT assessors’ examination.

At the request of the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) and in coordination with the IMF’s East AFRITAC, the TADAT Secretariat conducted a TADAT blended learning workshop in Kigali during December 1 - 4, 2015. Twenty-five officials from the RRA and four (of which three were sponsored by IMF East AFRITAC) from Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) participated in the workshop. It was led by Muyangwa Muyangwa, resident tax administration advisor (IMF- East AFRITAC) and included the TADAT secretariat staff and a representative from the US Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance. This training was designed to prepare both organizations to use the TADAT methodology in their performance monitoring frameworks. The Commissioner General for RRA, Mr. Richard Tusabe, provided a keynote address and informed the participants that his tax administration had made a decision to start using TADAT framework as tool to monitor the performance of the organization.

The Commissioner General noted that the members of staff who will be trained will be given the mandate to follow and monitor each specific POA in their performance monitoring framework. He further noted that from the TADAT assessment, conducted earlier in the year, RRA was made aware of the challenges facing the revenue authority and had made a deliberate decision to concentrate on creating a taxpayer database that is complete, accurate, and reliable. At the end of the blended learning workshop 24 participants took part in the online TADAT examination; 21 passed the examination successfully.

On November 18, 2015 an internationally supported Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) was released for public use at an event hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The event was attended by members of the TADAT Steering Committee, IMF and World Bank staff, Public Expenditure and Financial Accountability Secretariat staff, tax experts, academics, government officials, donors and representatives of professional tax associations and civil society. In addition, it was streamed live on the internet to a global audience.In his opening statement, Director of the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department Mr. Vitor Gaspar emphasized the important role that TADAT will play in the context of the domestic resource mobilization efforts and institution building

“At the heart of the matter is good tax administration. Raising enough revenue is crucial to secure macroeconomic stability. Raising enough revenue is crucial to finance public spending that supports growth and wider social objectives. This was the consensus at the Addis Ababa conference on Financing for Development in July… and is well set out in the new Sustainable Development Goals … tax administration is a major interface between the state and its citizens. Building a fair and professional tax administration is thus an important part of wider state building. This entails developing trusted and effective institutions more generally.”

Various speakers at the event conveyed number of messages that can be summarized as follows: (1) TADAT is timely, technically sound, and a much needed tool which was developed in a collaborative manner and can be used as a platform to enhance further collaboration amongst all stakeholders; (2) TADAT is suitable for countries at all stages of development and income levels; (3) TADAT can play an important role in contributing to Domestic Resource Mobilization, Financing for Development and other global initiatives; (4) TADAT is about taking stock of where the tax administration systems is, and prioritizing and sequencing the implementation of improvements; and (5) TADAT has to be conducted by well qualified and experienced persons.

In her closing remarks, the IMF’s Deputy Managing Director, Ms. Carla Grasso, made the following statement: “We at the Fund are fully committed to playing our part in this renewed emphasis on improving countries’ performance on domestic revenue mobilization. We believe that we have an important role. But we are only part of the story. What is needed is strong collaboration between all those interested in this area. This will allow us to bring to bear our differing expertise, perspectives and comparative advantages. Here we can take great encouragement from the TADAT experience.”Ms. Grasso declared the TADAT released for public use.

As of September 2015, 91 individuals representing 33 countries from all Africa, Asia and Pacific, Europe, and Western Hemisphere regions completed the training and passed a proctored exam qualifying them as Trained TADAT Assessors.

One hundred and sixty two (162) individuals, including participants of the first two face-to-face training workshops in Washington DC and London, UK, registered for training. Throughout the development stage, the Secretariat was collaborating with IMF’s Institute for Capacity Building (ICD), which supported the Secretariat in instructional design and included TADAT in the use of a proven online course delivery platform edX, an online learning consortium governed by MIT and Harvard.
An online learning course, which was launched on May 21, 2015 and ran through August 31, 2015 provided training that was globally accessible and free to course participants. It allowed candidates to learn at their own pace, with access to 12 modules addressing each of the nine POAs plus an introductory session, and modules on how to prepare for an assessment and how to write the final Report. Through the video lectures, practice questions, and case studies the course attempted to strike a balance between the rigor required to have a thorough understanding of the Field Guide and the TADAT methodology, and the simplicity needed to be easily comprehensible and user friendly.
An open-book evaluation test has been designed to assess candidates’ understanding of the TADAT methodology and the Field Guide. Hosted on the same platform (edX), the one-hour exam consisted of 20 randomly generated questions covering all modules of the course. The passing grade (calibrated during the face-to-face workshops) was set at 75 percent. TADAT Training for Assessors was very well received and generated a lot of positive feedback. One of the participants provided the following comment “…I loved the exam. It is definitely not easy; nor is it too difficult either. It is just right…, I felt that anyone who qualifies in it, will be reasonably competent enough to join a TADAT assessment team and deliver.”

The United States Treasury’s Office of Technical Assistance hosted a TADAT Training workshop in Washington DC on July 8-10, 2015. The workshop brought together 21 officials from the US Treasury, IRS and USAID as well as officials from the state revenue services of Iowa and Delaware.

It was delivered by the TADAT Secretariat, with some guest lecturers from the Fiscal Affairs Department of the IMF. A blended learning approach, which combines face to face lectures with online material, was used.

The workshop was very interactive. Participants were exposed to the TADAT assessment framework (outlined in the TADAT Field Guide) including TADAT’s technical design and content, reflections on tax administration good practices, the scoring methodology for each Performance Outcome Area and relevant indicators.

The group exercises, developed around real country case scenarios, allowed participants to apply the methodology in a practical hands-on way. Many lively discussions and reflections generated by participants and moderated by presenters helped connect the methodology to the real world experience.

In the course evaluation, participants scored the course, its content, relevance, delivery and discussions predominantly “5”s (more than three-fourth of the participants), a few “4”s and only one “3”; “5” being the highest score. All participants passed the TADAT Assessor exam successfully and have joined the family of trained TADAT assessors.