Dragana Marković, Director of the Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia

Digitalisation and automation processes will contribute to the creation of a modern and efficient Tax Administration, thereby securing sustainable and predictable public finances and providing a digital service that’s adapted to every taxpayer

Serbia’s Tax Administration has recorded continuous growth in revenues from the collection of taxes over the last ten years. This success was achieved under the conditions of implementing the process of transforming the Tax Administration, which itself represents a priority and a very demanding activity for all employees, and is thus a challenge for maintaining the level of collection, says Dragana Marković, director of the Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia.

“The best way to illustrate our work is to compare the level of collection from 2024 with the results of the collection achieved in the same period of 2014, immediately prior to the start of the implementation of our first Transformation Programme,” notes Marković. “Compared to the first seven months of 2014, when tax collection totalled 1,032.4 billion dinars, the Tax Administration collected 1,696.3 billion dinars in the same period of 2024, or 155.5% more.”

Key activities that contribute to maintaining and improving the efficacy of the work of the Tax Administration include a commitment to the strategic goals of the Transformation Programme, the continuous strengthening of capacities, digitalisation as a prerequisite for future automation, the redesigning of operational processes, constant improvement of employees through training courses, workshops and education, and the improving of internal communication.

“Also required are a clear vision, precisely defined goals, courage, tenacity and the determination to be consistent in your idea and to advance every day despite everything,” states our interlocutor.

To what extent can the Tax Administration alleviate the challenges of a lack of sufficient capacities?

— I would emphasise the situation in terms of staffing capacity as being the most important factor, which – despite not being ideal at the moment – doesn’t have a significant negative impact on the execution of planned work and goals.

The Tax Administration has done plenty to develop risk analysis and select high-risk taxpayers for checks, as well as developing a palette of services for low-risk taxpayers

The comprehensive process of digitalising and automating work contributes to speeding up certain activities of the tax administration and rendering them more efficient, as well as increasing the Tax Administration’s volume of data and possibility of better risk analysis. This results in a more rational and far more effective control system of taxpayers, which only controls those taxpayers who have been assessed by risk analysis as having not fulfilled their legal obligations in the prescribed manner.

What are your key successes when it comes to combating the grey economy?

— With all its taxpayer control activities, the Tax Administration confirms its role as one of the key players in the fight against the grey economy in the Republic of Serbia. In recent years, the application of improved risk analysis criteria over recent years has led to the observing of a trend by which the amount of newly discovered income increases with a lower number of performed controls. The trend of reducing the number of controls is a result of intensive engagement in creating an environment that encourages voluntary compliance with regulations and the implementing of an entire set of measures with which the Tax Administration has stimulated compliance with tax regulations among those who didn’t previously comply, but also further motivated those who regularly service their obligations.

With the introduction of E-fiscalisation, as a project of strategic importance to the Tax Administration, we’ve taken a strong step forward together as a society in the fight against the grey economy and contributed to the general orderliness of society through better adherence to regulations. Thanks to the new fiscalisation model, the Tax Administration today has at its disposal real-time statistics on the turnover of goods and services in retail, which can be compared at the levels of territory, branch of industry and time of issuance.

Newly discovered revenue amounting to more than 17 billion dinars was discovered and calculated in the first six months of 2024, which is up five per cent on the same period of last year. A total of 1,806 checks on the recording of turnover were conducted, resulting in 1,133 temporary bans on the performing of activities. Simultaneously, 508 criminal charges were filed in response to tax evasion worth nearly 13 billion dinars. The confirmed total amount of tax evaded per criminal report filed is up 63.2% compared to the same period of 2023. Moreover, 74 “laundering” and “phantom” enterprises were identified as helping regular businesses avoid their public revenue obligations and representing one of the chief motors of the grey economy.

Which technologies for the prevention of tax crimes are available to the Tax Administration and are you considering utilising artificial intelligence in risk analysis?

— The Tax Administration has done plenty in terms of developing risk analysis and selecting high-risk taxpayers for checks. Staff apply and use a large number of criteria to assess the risk of each taxpayer, as well as various statistical methods, but also more sophisticated methods like big data analysis, machine learning and artificial intelligence. Moreover, the Tax Administration has also created an entire palette of services that are applied in working with low-risk taxpayers. The development of the Advanced Analytical Platform in the System for Fiscalisation Management has ensured that checks are “targeted,” thereby ensuring increased efficiency in the work of the Tax Administration.

The headquarters of the Tax Administration of Serbia relocated to its own premises last year, while the process of improving the Administration’s spatial organisation as a whole is currently underway. What do these changes mean for your work?

— This is a nice opportunity for us to boast about the relocating of the Tax Administration to a new “tax-smart” building, representing a specialised facility that was built in accordance with the highest international standards and harmonised with the needs of personnel, thus achieving an important goal within the significant direction of reforms linked to the centralisation of work. The fact that this is the first time in history that the Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia has a dedicated workspace of its own, essentially its own building, testifies to how big a development this is.

We work constantly to uncover so-called laundering enterprises that help regular businesses avoid servicing their public revenue obligations

When we launched the Transformation Programme back in 2015, the Tax Administration in Belgrade operated at 28 different locations. Even the headquarters were spread over seven locations, while individual branches were housed at two to three locations, which hampered communication and coordination quite a lot, as well as increasing operational costs. Working in the new building, with reformed operational processes, will enable the even more efficient and operational functioning of the Tax Administration.

The Tax Administration has undergone reform successfully in the previous period. What’s the most important subsequent step when it comes to improving the efficiency of the Administration’s work?

— The Tax Administration currently finds itself pursuing three strategic goals defined by the Transformation Programme. Next are activities related to further capacity building, as well as the continuation of the process of procuring a tailored commercial solution and the implementation of a new business model, preceded by the redesign of operational processes.

What’s certain is that we will continue working on digitalisation, which is a prerequisite for the automation of tax processes that the Tax Administration is striving towards. The implementation of an all-encompassing digitalisation and automation process will contribute to the creation of a modern and efficient institution, which ensures sustainable and predictable public finances, is “invisible” to the taxpayer and provides a digital service adapted to the taxpayer at all times.