SANA'A December 23. 2023 (Saba) - The decision taken by the Tax Authority regarding the electronic collection of all tax revenues by 100% starting next January, and in both cases it is in the interest of taxpayers.
Since the Tax Authority had launched work on the electronic collection project at the beginning of the year 2023 AD and stood before the various accompanying technical and procedural measures and prepared an integrated plan to confront the various challenges that emerged and prevented electronic collection from reaching 100%, which prompted the Tax Authority to accelerate the implementation of the treatment plan technical.
This survey highlights the efforts made by the Tax Authority to switch to 100 percent electronic collection, starting next January, at the level of executive units, their branches, and tax offices in the capital, Sana’a, and the governorates:
Mandatory decision
Head of the Tax Authority, Abdul-Jabbar Ahmed Muhammad, says, “The choice of time to reach 100 percent electronic collection in January was not absurd, but rather deliberate and planned, especially after the authority completed solving all the problems related to the system for the electronic collection project.”
Noting that the department's technical teams began building this vital system in the middle of the year 2022 AD, its construction and integration with the automated systems in the Ministry of Finance and CAC Bank was completed by the end of the year 2022 AD, it launched the beginning of the year 2023 AD.
He touched on the most prominent technical treatments for the electronic collection system that the authority recently completed, especially about the collection of real estate sales tax and real estate revenue tax, the collection of which is not linked to the existence of a tax number, until the system became ready to accommodate the collection of various types of taxes.
He explained that a decision had been issued to adopt the electronic payment notice with the strength of the 50-account model, and to coordinate with CAC Bank to allow the collection of resources in foreign currency, which will be available by the end of this December.
Motivation to achieve success
The head of the Tax Authority confirms that the tax institution no longer has any justification to procrastinate in completing the project’s release to the community by its established goal. Therefore, all tax offices have been directed to complete the opening of electronic accounts for the rest of the taxpayers from this December.
Regarding the extent to which the Tax Authority verified the branches’ commitment, interaction, and seriousness to move to 100 percent electronic payment, it included electronic collection among the standards of excellence and leadership during the fourth quarter of the current year, 2023 AD.
Real estate unit
For his part, the Director General of the Executive Unit indicated that electronic collection had not occurred to any of the unit’s employees, as no electronic collection process had been recorded in the unit until August 2023, referring to the treatments that were carried out in the system by including the real estate unit within the electronic collection system.
He added, "Based on the directives of the head of the department, he directed the unit’s leadership to begin electronic collection. He followed and supervised the various stages of completion until the beginning occurred in September, when the unit’s leadership insisted on breaking that barrier and began electronic payment starting in September, registering 133 electronic collection operations with follow-up and joint effort." With our team in general management and branches.”
The Director pointed out that the unit and its branches, with the encouragement of the head of the department, recorded 407 electronic collection operations in October, then a qualitative leap was achieved in November with the recording of 1,014 electronic collection operations, while the surprise was during the current month of December when electronic collection operations reached 1,217 operations. Equivalent to 81 percent of total revenues.
He explained that these results would not have been achieved without the diligent follow-up by the head of the department, as well as the daily follow-up by the unit and coordination with sectors and CAC Bank.
Ongoing workshop
In turn, the Director General of Collections, Engineer Mohamed Muthanna, confirmed that the Department transformed during these months into a workshop to follow up and complete all the transformations related to the transition to 100 percent electronic collection under the strategic work plan by the head of the Department.
He pointed out that the Department and its branches are moving with determination and steady steps towards the complete transformation of electronic services.
He added, "We are closely following the development of the revenues collected electronically according to the unit, offices, and their branches, studying and evaluating them, following up on the negligent offices, and solving all problems in fruitful cooperation with the success partners in CAC Bank and the Information Unit of the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank, and submitting the evaluation to the head of the department."
Means of protection and safety
Director General of the Information Technology and Digital Transformation Unit at the Tax Authority, Nashwan Al-Khail, touched on the negatives resulting from traditional manual collection, which prompted the Tax Authority to think about using advanced methods in implementing the tax revenue collection process.
He pointed out that the technical teams in the entities participating in the electronic collection project have worked on preparing automated systems and applications that integrate in completing the electronic payment process with all efficiency and high ability.
Al-Khail stressed that the Department was able to overcome various challenges related to information security by building systems in programming languages that are the most efficient in the world and using global security standards in the networking process between participating parties, as well as using means of protection and security in encrypting data and its transmission across the information network.
He added: "Devices were also used to protect against access to central servers, and the technical infrastructure was updated and developed to enable the department to implement the electronic payment service with high efficiency."
Senior taxpayers
In turn, the Director General of the Senior Taxpayers Unit Branch in Taiz Governorate, Jamil Al-Sharjabi, spoke about the importance of electronic collection, as it represents a qualitative shift that meets the needs of the taxpayers’ audience and keeps pace with the continuous modernization of the Tax Authority’s work tools that aim to raise the efficiency of the tax system and overcome the difficulties and negatives of manual work.
Al-Sharjabi reviewed the goals achieved by electronic collection in providing a distinguished and modern service that brought great satisfaction among taxpayers and overcoming the negatives of paper money circulation and some of the difficulties, risks and burdens it entails and saving time and effort.
He pointed out that electronic payment allows taxpayers to fulfill their tax obligations at any time and 24 hours a day.
Fruitful efforts
The Director General of the Ibb Governorate Tax Office, Moin Mohsen Al-Shalif, also spoke about the office’s preparations and the efforts it is making to fully transform into 100 percent electronic collection.
Al-Shalif reviewed the advantages of electronic collection, as it will save the state’s public treasury large amounts of money that were spent in exchange for publications and manual collection vouchers.
He stated that the office began the 100 percent electronic collection process last November in the general administration as a first step in preparation for its implementation in the branches from the beginning of January 2024.
M.M
resource : SABA