IOTA Forum on Tax Debt Management "Navigating New Paths to Unlock Innovative Tax Debt Management Solutions"
From October 1-2, 2025, IOTA hosted another insightful hybrid event from its Annual Work Programme Calendar: the IOTA Forum on Tax Debt Management, titled "Navigating New Paths to Unlock Innovative Tax Debt Management Solutions." Held in Skopje, this event was organised in close collaboration with the Public Revenue Office of the Republic of North Macedonia.
The Forum gathered 36 in-person participants from 34 member administrations, along with over 100 online attendees, including non-IOTA members from Brazil, Singapore, Japan, Indonesia, and Canada. The event was also joined by a representative from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), one of the international partner organisations of IOTA. Over the 2 days of the event, participants discussed innovative approaches to automate key debt management processes and practical approaches of settling tax debts with virtual assets, to enhance tax collection and recovery.
Ms Elena Petrova, Director General of the Public Revenue Office of the Republic of North Macedonia, opened the event, setting the stage for discussions on how tax authorities are leveraging new debt management solutions to improve the effectiveness of tax debt collection. The first plenary session focused on recent achievements in automating key tax debt management processes, featuring presentations from:
- Bosnia and Herzegovina (ITA): “New approaches for innovative tax debt management solutions” presented by Ena Šeremet;
- Azerbaijan: “Tax arrears and collection management” presented by Ramil Najafov (online).
In the second session, tax administrations shared practical examples of automation benefits in debt management, which contributed to more efficient collection and recovery. Presenter countries included Lithuania, Ireland, and Greece:
- Lithuania: "Cutting the Waste: A Practical Journey in Process Optimization" presented by Vitalija Burdeinaja;
- Ireland: “Facilitating Phase Payment Arrangements in Debt Collection” presented by Aidan Hastings;
- Greece: “IAPR's Digital Transformation in Tax Debt Management” presented by Evangelia Sotiropoulou & Eleni Beka.
The third plenary examined the legal considerations that the process of automation of tax debt management processes can raise, with a presentation by Felicienne Nyiboka-Bokwetenge, Belgium, on “Automation of the key tax debt management processes and taxpayers' legal protection.”
The fourth plenary session highlighted the main findings from the latest IOTA Project on Automation of Tax Debt Management Processes, presented by team members Ann-Sophie Nolf (Belgium), Lena Gustafsson (Sweden), and Vitalija Burdeinaja (Lithuania). This was followed by an online presentation from Netcompany on the successful implementation of tax debt process automation, delivered by Thomas Monefeldt, Lead of the Tax and Customs Division.
On the second day, focusing on cryptocurrencies, the TDM Forum addressed the challenges and opportunities of recovering taxes from virtual assets. The sixth plenary featured presentations from the following countries:
- Netherlands: “Cryptocurrency and asset seizure: a Dutch legal perspective” presented by Jasper Graaff;
- Sweden: “Secure payment in advance for additional income tax – seizing crypto and NFTs” co-presented by Mathilda Goransson, Lena Adolfsson & Magnus Kimenius (online);
- Spain: “Seizure of crypto assets in Spain” presented by Ana Bravo.
Participants learned about the outcomes of the IOTA project on Recovering Tax Debts from the Assets that are Difficult to Recover, led by Mark Goodridge (the UK) and Bernice Ward (Ireland). The Forum also featured updates from OECD, presented by Kohei Mita from the OECD-FTA Secretariat.
Each day of the Forum, attendees participated in interactive icebreakers and lively group discussions, gaining insights into digital debt recovery strategies. The event concluded with remarks from the participants and updates from the Steering Group on future activities for the next mandate of the TDM Forum. All materials and presentations from the Forum are now available online on the event's webpage, and a video recording of the event will soon be accessible on the same platform. IOTA’s appreciation goes to the host administration, the Public Revenue Office of the Republic of North Macedonia, for their excellent hospitality and collaboration on this event. The Forum was facilitated by IOTA International Taxation Experts Ivana Donchevska & Massimo Morarelli.
