VITARA Reference Guide: Institutional Governance

This guide is part of a series of Virtual Training to Advance Revenue Administration (VITARA) reference guides that has been developed based on the contents of the VITARA online modules. The VITARA Reference Guide: Institutional Governance introduces internal and external governance arrangements for tax administrations. Among other things, this guide describes how the principles of accountability and transparency can be implemented in practice, what governance safeguards exist in a tax administration, how a ministry can exercise external oversight of a tax administration, what internal controls should be introduced by executives, and what governance responsibilities exist for senior leaders in a tax administration as well as organizational considerations in the development and implementation of the governance framework. This reference guide supports executives and senior managers in a tax administration by explaining how concepts such as autonomy and legal status impact governance as well as highlighting common management committees of a tax administration and international good practices preventing corruption in a tax administration.