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information to practitioners and the public about agent registration, conduct and professional practice matters; Austria: There are regular meetings with the chamber of tax advisors where the representatives are informed about the compliance measures and where they can contribute with their opinion. Canada: CRA has a formal licensing agreement with four major commercial tax publishers to publish a severed version of its advance income tax rulings and technical interpretations. These publishers provide access to tax professionals (and other interested taxpayers) providing up-to-date content from CRA on a subscription basis. The CRA freely provides technical information in a variety of publications (e.g. policy statements, memoranda, circulars, interpretation and information bulletins, pamphlets, forms and guides). These are available on the CRA website for anyone to access. CRA also has a Tax Professionals webpage which provides a public portal to common areas of interest to Tax Professionals and highlights general news from CRA; Cyprus: Through discussion of circulars to be issued to ensure minimum burden of taxpayers. Finland: Pilot project for phone inquiries from accounting firms launched in June 2012, services generally targeted to accounting firms; Italy: Dedicated phone service is for online service issues only; Luxembourg: only for direct taxes; Mexico: Federal Tax Audit Division (regarding certified public accountants). Netherlands: Horizontal programme for SME segment is managed through tax intermediaries. Slovak Rep.: The tax administration organises meetings with the Chamber of the Tax Professionals in order to assure unified implementation of the tax regulations. Status of the tax professionals is according to the Slovak tax legislation the same as the status of any other taxpayer and they are not provided with the special services within the tax administration. Spain: A “Forum for Tax Professionals’ Associations and Representative Bodies” was created in March 2011; within the Tax Agency, the Deputy Directorate for External Communications acts as Technical Secretariat for the Forum; Switzerland: For VAT matters only. United Kingdom: Flexibilities concerning return filing dates are equally available to represented and unrepresented taxpayers; concerning the use of dedicated “relationship managers”, individual help is given to agents with specific service issues, but it is not an ongoing one to one relationship – the help is provided on a pool basis; United States: The IRS e-Services Online Tools for Tax Professionals provides multiple online electronic products and services to tax professionals. Eligible tax professionals may use the e-Services to: (1) request and receive tax account transcripts, wage and income documents, tax return transcripts, and verification of non-filing letters for both individual and business taxpayers; (2) expedite closure on clients’ account problems by electronically sending/receiving account related inquiries; (3) match payee Taxpayer Identification Number and name combinations against IRS records prior to submitting an information return; and (4) complete authorisation forms, view and modify existing forms, and receive acknowledgement of accepted submissions of tax returns immediately – all online.

Bibliography

ATO (2012), Compliance Program 2012-13, Australian Taxation Office, Canberra. ATO (2012), Tax Practitioner Program, Australian Taxation Office, Canberra.

CRA (2012), E-facilitation of Compliance: Taxpayer Services via the Internet, CIAT 46th

Assembly, Canada Revenue Agency, Ottawa.

Committee on Horizontal Monitoring by the Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration (2012), Tax Supervision - Made to Measure - Flexible when possible, strict where necessary, Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration, The Hague.

Comptroller and Auditor General (UK) (2010), Engaging with Tax Agents, London: The Stationery Office.

Inland Revenue Department (2012), “Mechanisms implemented for assisting taxpayers in remote geographical areas”, CIAT 46th Assembly, IRD, Wellington.

IRS Oversight Board (2012), Annual Report to Congress 2011, Internal Revenue Service oversight Board, Washington.

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Netherlands Tax and Customs Administration (2007), Guide to horizontal monitoring within the SME segment; Tax service providers, The Hague.

OECD (2008), Study into the Role of Tax Intermediaries, Forum on Tax Administration, Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD, Paris.

Tax Practitioners Board (2010), Legislative regime for tax intermediaries, www.tpb.gov. au/#&panel1-3 (accessed September 2010).

TAX ADMINISTRATION 2013: COMPARATIVE INFORMATION ON OECD AND OTHER ADVANCED AND EMERGING ECONOMIES – © OECD 2013