The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), have this week conducted an in–county technical training to staff members of the Seychelles Revenue Commission(SRC), focused on audit techniques applicable within the telecommunications sector.
Delivered between 2 and 6 October 2023, the training held at The Guy Morel Institute (TGMI), gathered a total of sixteen participants from the Commission’s large audit section as well as the examination and analysis unit. The sessions comprised of both theory and practical methods of learning, were facilitated by ATAF’s Manager for Country Programs, Mrs. Sameera Khan including two of the administration’s technical experts, Mr. Christopher Mpapale and Mr. Ellison Mawere.
The first part of the session facilitated by Mr. Christopher Mpapale, covered topics such as revenue fraud within the telecom industry, tax avoidance schemes by multinational corporations and possible mitigating strategies against tax schemes as well as revenue assurance within the industry. Participating staff members also had the chance to gain a broad perspective on the applications of corporation tax, withholding tax, and the Pay As You Earn (PAYE) scheme for the telecom industries through a set of business case studies that was reviewed on site.
A virtual session tackling the practical application of data analytics in revenue assurance in telecom was also conducted as part of the training.
Day four and five facilitated by Mr. Ellison Mawere allowed the participants the opportunity to discuss on the challenges being experienced when requesting information from taxpayers and the mitigating factors one can use to help improve compliance. Discussions also revolved around the application of withholding tax on technical fees for interconnecting and roaming services amongst others.
Marking the end of the training, a short closing ceremony was held to thank the facilitators and ATAF for their commitment and support in the success of the training, which has indeed come at opportune time, given that the Commission has started its operational strategy to digitalize its audit function, which will beside increase compliance also build an improved platform for in-depth data gathering and analysis.
Being a proud member of ATAF since January 2011, alongside forty-two other African States, SRC will continue to engage with ATAF on tax matters, to further build its capacity and gain expertise from member countries, in addition to ensuring the Commission remains on par with the best practices being implemented across Africa and beyond.