Commissioners of Mauritius (CATA Chair), Malaysia (CATA Presidency), Barbados, Belize, Malawi, the Seychelles, St Lucia and the United Kingdom met today to discuss their strategic priorities for 2025 and beyond. Mr Lal, Director General, Mauritius Revenue Authority, chaired the meeting.
Commissioners discussed aligning tax administration strategies with government priorities, and reacting to the changing expectations of their taxpayer base and workforce. Despite their varied experiences, all agreed on the importance of effective change management and bringing employees along the transformation journey.
Commissioners also discussed their digital transformation journeys. They shared their successes in launching new tools to improve voluntary compliance and building cyber-resilient tax administrations, but also challenges arising from skills and infrastructure gaps, and growing criminal threats exploiting digital tools. To that end, Commissioners voiced support for continued experience-sharing between CATA members on audit and enforcement.
Looking to the future, Mr Lal noted that “we do not know what lies ahead”: rapid developments in tax administration and beyond, from real-time e-invoicing to cashless societies, could lead to fundamental changes in how we do tax in our lifetimes. He highlighted Mauritius’ experience in interacting with other international organisations, prompting Commissioners to agree on the importance of learning from each other.
As Commissioner General Varsha Singh, Seychelles Revenue Commission, said, “2025 is a year of action, implementation, and empowerment”. Commissioners Connect will continue to provide an exclusive forum to discuss the major strategic questions facing all CATA members, with the next meeting taking place in person in Q2 2025.
