Rationale and design of the programme
The Fiscalis programme is an EU cooperation programme that enables national tax administrations to create and exchange information and expertise. It helps Member States to develop and run major trans-European information technology tax systems, as well as establishing networks of officials across the EU.
Tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance, combined with digitalisation and new business models, present continued challenges to both the EU and the functioning and performance of national tax administrations. The latter need to provide quick and joint responses, while at the same time avoiding unnecessary administrative burden for citizens and businesses engaging in cross-border transactions. Individual Member States cannot adequately address these problems on their own. Rather, these challenges, both within the EU and with non-EU countries, require action at the EU level.
The Fiscalis programme has the general objective of supporting tax authorities and taxation in order to enhance the functioning of the internal market, foster the competitiveness of the EU and fair competition in the EU and protect the financial and economic interests of the EU and its Member States. This includes protecting these interests from tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance and improving tax collection. It offers Member States a framework to develop activities through cooperation among national taxation officials on the one hand, and information technology and human capacity building on the other.
The programme has the specific objectives of supporting tax policy and implementing Union law relating to the field of taxation; fostering cooperation between tax authorities, including the exchange of tax related information; and supporting administrative capacity building, including human competency and the development and operation of the European electronic systems.
The Fiscalis programme provides financial support for information technology capacity-building actions – in particular the development and operation of European electronic systems for taxation – and fosters cooperation among national tax authorities via meetings and project-based structured collaboration, such as project groups and expert teams. The programme also provides financial support for human competency and other capacity-building actions, including training and exchange of best practices, as well as other actions such as studies, communication and innovation activities.
The Fiscalis programme was established by Regulation (EU) 2021/847. The legal bases of this regulation are articles 114 and 197 TFEU.
In addition, the multi annual work programmes (MAWPs) constitutes the operational and financial framework for the programme implementation, stipulating the priorities for a specific period. The latter are defined on the basis of the Programme’s objectives and DG Taxation and Customs policy priorities, as established in the multi-annual strategic plan for taxation (MASP-T) for information technology projects and other strategic documents (e.g. TAXUD Strategic Plans, Communication strategy, action plan for fair and simple taxation supporting the recovery strategy, the European Green Deal etc.). MAWPs are established via comitology, in consultation with the Fiscalis programme committee.
Tax policies, being part of the EU policies, play an instrumental role in implementing the Commission’s political objectives, particularly in supporting green and digital transition, promoting social fairness and prosperity, reinforcing social justice and rule of law while promoting economic growth.
Collecting taxes and combating tax fraud and evasion are competences of the EU Member States. Nevertheless, in an increasingly globalised world, the EU provides a common framework as well as instruments to effectively handle cross-border tax issues. Through information technology and other means, the EU allows for cooperation and the exchange of information among its Member States. EU legislation enables collaboration between national tax authorities in various ways.
The Fiscalis Programme supports European electronic systems and related applications in operation for taxation. These systems allow information to be exchanged rapidly and in a common format that can be recognized by all Member States. The Fiscalis Programme also funds activities to support the automatic exchange of information. Furthermore, the Programme supports collaborative actions such as meetings, workshops as well as other events and capacity-building actions for tax officials to strengthen their capacity of tackling tax fraud, tax evasion and aggressive tax planning.
Thanks to its financial support, the programme contributes – directly and indirectly - to the EU agenda for economic recovery and long-term growth, fair taxation while advancing in the digital transition.
To achieve this, the Fiscalis programme budget (EUR 268 million) is implemented in direct management by the Commission (DG Taxation and Customs union) through:
- Procurement contracts: for the European electronic systems expenditure, training activities, studies and other actions (e.g. communication and studies). These contracts are initiated, managed and implemented by the Commission. In 2023, around 89% of the financial capacity of the Programme47 was devoted to procurement for information technology capacity-building actions (e.g. development and operation of the European electronic systems for taxation, including their design, specification, conformance testing, deployment, maintenance, evolution, modernisation, security, quality assurance and quality control).
- Grant with the participating countries regarding collaborative actions, including expert teams, workshops, project groups and similar activities. These are initiated and managed by the Commission, and implemented by the grant beneficiaries (being the participating countries’ tax administrations). These activities provide forums for collaboration among the beneficiaries’ tax authorities, in order to allow them to share knowledge, experience, and set guidelines and common working practices through programme activities. Besides, the programme is open to the participation of non-EU countries on condition that specific agreements are in place.
The Fiscalis programme is a continuation of its predecessor in the 2014-2020 multiannual financial framework, with more intensive cooperation and a larger number of electronic systems.
Programme website:
Impact assessment:
Relevant regulation:
- Regulation (EU) 2021/847 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
Evaluations:
The final evaluation of the Fiscalis 2020 programme was completed in 2022. For further information please consult:
- The external study.
- Commission staff working document on the Final evaluation of Regulation (EU) No 1286/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing an action programme to improve the operation of taxation systems in the European Union for the period 2014-2020 (Fiscalis 2020) and repealing Decision No 1482/2007/EC.
- The report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the final evaluation of the Fiscalis 2020 programme.
Budget
Budget programming (million EUR):
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_02:table[/notranslate]
Financial programming:
- EUR 1.4 million (- 1%)
compared to the legal basis*
* Top-ups pursuant to Article 5 of the multiannual financial framework regulation are excluded from financial programming in this comparison.
Budget performance – implementation
Multiannual cumulative implementation rate at the end of 2022 (million EUR):
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_03:table[/notranslate]
Annual voted budget implementation (million EUR)(*):
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_04:table[/notranslate]
- The delayed adoption of the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework resulted in the late adoption and launch of the Fiscalis programme. Consequently the signature of the new grant agreements and the implementation of general collaboration activities and expert team grants was affected, starting only from December 2021.
- Despite the late adoption of the Fiscalis regulation and the 2021-2023 financing decision, almost 100% of the total envelope devoted to 2023 was committed.
- In 2023, DG Taxation and Customs Union has fully implemented the commitment appropriations with the below breakdown:
- European electronic systems EUR 31.3 million
- Collaboration activities grants (including Expert Teams) EUR 1 million
- Other service contracts (communication, trainings, studies, etc.) EUR 3.9 million
- In 2023, two new expert team grant agreements in the field of administrative cooperation, and in the fight against tax fraud were signed.
- The COVID-19 pandemic, the late adoption of the regulation and financing decision, the level of online collaboration and the streamlining exercise of the number of groups, impacted the financial programming of the new programme. While the impact was very limited for the expenditure on procurement – largely related to the maintenance and development of the information technology systems – it was more significant for expenditure on grants on collaborative actions, due a lower number of face-to-face meetings. While in 2023 COVID-19 related travel restrictions are no longer limiting physical meetings, the online collaboration remains strong, with nearly half of the meetings taking place online, in line with greening objectives. In addition, a streamlining exercise took place in the DG in relation to the number of groups, also affecting the number of project groups under the Fiscalis programme.
- These conditions led to under consumption of some grants under the new programme which were extended. For these reasons, some of the planned grants have been postponed and will be launched in 2024.
Contribution to horizontal priorities
Green budgeting
Contribution to green budgeting priorities (million EUR):
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_05:table[/notranslate]
- In accordance with the above table, during 2023 there were no actions that specifically contributed to green budgeting priorities.
- However, the programme continued indirectly supporting the green deal by means of reinforced digitalisation of information technology taxation systems and related cooperation actions.
Gender
Contribution to gender equality (million EUR) (*):
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_06:table[/notranslate]
| Gender disaggregated information: |
|---|
(2) The main beneficiaries of the programme are the tax authorities in the participating countries. In particular for the collaborative activities grant, tax authorities decide at their own discretion to whom they delegate the specific programme events, according to the activity’s agenda and objectives. The figures relate to a specific type of the 0* activities in 2023, even if none of them were identified as having gender equality impact. The data reflects the information available in the activity reporting tool as of 3 February 2024. |
The Fiscalis programme’s interventions are split relating to gender equality score as follows:
- Score 0: relates to information technology expenditure, in particular on the development and operation of European electronic systems, which does not target the promotion of gender equality.
- Score 0*: relates to the remaining types of expenditure, i.e. collaboration activities, training, studies and communication, for which a potential to promote gender equality has been identified.
At the policy level, the programme’s objective is to support tax cooperation across the EU. DG Taxation and Customs Union takes note of the potential relevance of gender equality in the taxation domain in light of, inter alia, taxation redistribution and multiplier effects.
At the same time, the programme has implemented an internal tracking mechanism in its activity reporting tool, which enables the identification of collaborative activities with a direct link to gender equality.
Based on this tracking mechanism, it can be confirmed that no collaborative programme activities took place in either 2021, 2022 or 2023 regarding gender equality. For the time being, no interventions have been planned or identified for 2024.
Digital
Contribution to digital transition (million EUR):
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_07:table[/notranslate]
- The programme allocates the majority of the budget to information technology capacity-building actions, defined as a top priority in the programme’s regulation (recital 12). Among the information technology capacity-building actions supported by the programme, priority is given to the European electronic systems that are necessary for the implementation of the general and specific objectives of the programme.
- In 2023, the committed expenses for the development and maintenance of European electronic systems were EUR 31.3 million. This volume is in line with the committed budget to information technology procurement under the programme in 2022. The cumulative commitment appropriations devoted to the European electronic system represents 81.7% of the total envelope of the Fiscalis programme for the 2021-2023 period.
- The high inflation levels registered since the start of the current multiannual financial framework require close monitoring of the scheduled budget for 2023 and the remaining years, especially in terms of costs linked with ensuring the development and functioning of the European electronic systems for taxation. In this context, the Commission assesses the actual information technology spending against initial information technology budget allocations.
Budget performance – outcomes
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_09:progress[/notranslate]
[notranslate]FiscalisWeb:budg_09:table[/notranslate]
Link to file with complete set of EU core performance indicators
- The year 2023 was the second full year of implementation of the Fiscalis programme following the adoption of the programme regulation in May 2021. In 2023, the programme activities were implemented under the 2021-2023 multiannual work programme, contributing to the overall EU priorities to support economic recovery and the digital transition. Throughout the year, the programme continued to support tax authorities and taxation, in order to enhance the functioning of the internal market.
- The programme’s collaborative activities provided forums to exchange expertise and best practices among the participating countries and between them and the Commission on various aspects of taxation and policy measures and their operational implementation.
- The overall progress of the performance indicators is on track. Some of the milestones and indicators were based on an extrapolation of the previous iteration of the programme or on the first month of implementation (December 2021) of the current programme. It has shown that this has not always been representative, for example for the number of actions under the programme organised in area of EU law, policy application and implementation and the number of online collaboration groups. Hence the milestones and targets were reviewed in 2024, based on the results of the first 2 full years of implementation of the programme, as anticipated for these indicators in the 2021 programme statements. The revision ensured that the milestones and targets are adapted to the new programme realities.
- In 2023, the support to the development of the European electronic systems for taxation remained a focal point of the programme. In 2023, 89% of the Fiscalis programme budget was devoted to the development and operation of the common components of the European electronic systems, which are considered as a key element in the digitalisation and simplification process of public services in the area of taxation, thus reinforcing synergies with the Commission’s horizontal priorities on digital transition. In addition, procurement activities relevant to the Fiscalis programme in the digital (information technology) area take into account Commission horizontal policies relating to greening and gender equality to the extent possible.
- In all, 29 European electronic systems funded by the programme were operational in 2023. The programme was instrumental in guaranteeing business continuity of the European electronic systems for taxation, which is confirmed by the fact that the availability of the European electronic systems supported by the programme remained close to 100%, in line with the set milestone of 99.5%.
- With 99.99% the availability of the common communication networks was above the milestone of 99.8%, guaranteeing business continuity for information technology standards. This is supported by the use of the systems that continued to grow in terms of both the number of messages exchanged and the number of consultations carried out.
- More physical meetings took place in 2023, while online collaboration remained strong. The increasing proportion of physical meetings allowed for closer human interaction and networking. Physical meetings are considered essential by many participants to guarantee the networking opportunities created by the programme: nearly 80% of the participants reported strong satisfaction with the networking possibilities offered through the programme. With the programme in full swing, the collaboration activities bore a high number of outputs/recommendations that were reported as useful and well used in the administrations.
- In terms of training, a substantial increase was observed in the number of tax officials trained, from 8 830 in 2022 to 34 981 in 2023. This includes the number of professionals who followed the courses with support of the EU portal (33 355) (5), together with the number of tax officials who participated in common learning event programme events (575) and information technology training sessions supported by the Fiscalis programme (1 051). Overall, 103 502 professionals (including tax officials and other tax professionals) benefited from the training opportunities offered by the programme. As expected, in 2023 the quality score of e-learnings also remained slightly below the target, which can be explained by the fact that the majority of courses is over 8 years old. An update of the tax courses in the portfolio was foreseen for 2023 but has been postponed to 2024 for some of the modules.
- Concerning the participation of non-EU countries in the Fiscalis programme, there are currently nine candidate and potential candidate countries that take part in the Fiscalis programme. The programme offers enlargement countries the possibility to cooperate with EU Member States and their peer tax authorities, and to learn the sector-specific EU legislation and operational good practices, which should help both the acquis harmonisation and its implementation.
The Fiscalis programme is an important source of assistance for Ukraine’s tax administration, as the country became part of the programme at the end of 2022 and started participating in the activities funded by the programme in 2023. The programme supports Ukrainian work towards harmonisation with EU acquis in tax policy, which became more relevant after the Council of the European Union provided for opening the accession negotiations with Ukraine in 2023.
(5) The figure on the number of officials trained includes the number of officials completing a course directly in the EU central training portal and the number of officials, as declared on the EU central portal by national administrations, to whom the downloaded courses are made available via the national distribution systems (e.g. national intranets, portals of the national training institutes). The number of tax officials may also include officials of other public institutions.
Sustainable development goals
Contribution to the sustainable development goals
| SDGs the programme contributes to | Example |
|---|---|
| SDG8 Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all | The Fiscalis programme supports tax authorities to enhance the functioning of the internal market, foster competitiveness, fight tax fraud, tax evasion and tax avoidance and improve tax collection. These are important elements for compliant businesses to reap the benefits of the internal market and sustain the union economic growth. The Programme secures this contribution through the support to digitalisation, efficiency of the EU tax administrations, as well as to the development of human competency and training for tax officials. As an example, in 2023, 103 502 professionals (including tax officials and other tax professionals) benefitted from the training opportunities offered in the customs & tax EU learning portal developed with the support of the programme. |
| SDG9 Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation | 89% of the Fiscalis programme budget in 2023 was devoted to the development and operation of the common components of the european electronic systems, a key element in the digitalisation and in the simplification process of public services in the area of taxation. The programme funded in 2023 the launch of excise movement and control system (EMCS 4.0), following the update of the Directive on general arrangements for excise duty8. EMCS Phase 4.0 consists mostly in the automation of the procedure for the movement of excise goods which have been released for consumption in the territory of one member state and moved to the territory of another for commercial purposes, also known as ‘duty paid business to business (B2B) movements’. This makes the taxation of alcohol, tobacco and energy products fully paperless. Moreover, in 2023, the Fiscalis programme funded projects in the area of taxation on best practices in dealing with data, digital security, the use of chatbots and the use of artificial intelligence for tax purposes. |