IOTA Webinar “Debt Recovery Challenges in E-Commerce and the Sharing Economy”
On 17 April 2026, IOTA delivered another engaging online event from the IOTA 2026 Work Programme Calendar, a webinar on Debt Recovery Challenges in E-Commerce and the Sharing Economy, bringing together over 100 experts from 27 IOTA member tax administrations to discuss emerging issues in tax debt collection in an increasingly digitalised environment.
The Webinar explored how digitalisation, the growth of e-commerce, and platform-based work are reshaping traditional approaches to tax debt recovery. Particular attention was given to the challenges posed by asset-light taxpayers, irregular income streams, and the use of digital payment methods, which often limit the effectiveness of conventional recovery tools.
The Webinar’s session featured expert speakers from IOTA member tax administrations of Azerbaijan, Hungary, and the Netherlands. Frank Gielen, the Netherlands, provided an overview of key challenges associated with recovering tax debt from gig economy workers and e-commerce taxpayers in his presentation, titled “Tax debt recovery from freelancers and gig workers - the Dutch perspective”. Hungary’s Dr Kanizsai Katalin’s presentation, under the theme “The use of real-time online invoice data for enforcement purposes”, focused on adapting alternative and preventive approaches to address these challenges, while Lala Babayeva, Azerbaijan, in her presentation titled “Ensuring VAT Compliance of Non-Resident Digital Service Providers: Administrative Practices in Azerbaijan and Emerging Gig Economy Challenges”, shared practical experiences and insights on improving tax debt management in this evolving landscape.
Participants engaged in discussions on how tax administrations can respond to the increasing volume of hard-to-recover debt, including the need for timely access to data, enhanced cooperation, and more flexible and forward-looking recovery strategies.
IOTA expresses its appreciation to the speakers and participants for their valuable contributions to this timely discussion. All materials and presentations are now accessible online via the event's webpage, while the webinar video recording will be made available soon on the same platform. The Webinar was facilitated by IOTA International Taxation Experts Ivana Donchevska and Anders Obrink.
