The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) is to hold its second International Conference on Tax in Africa from 21 to 23 October 2015. The conference in Lomé, Togo has the theme of “Tax Compliance and Limiting Illicit Financial Flows”. Participants in the conference will include the heads and senior officials of African tax administrations, representatives of international organizations and delegates from the private sector and academic institutions.

The conference will examine structures associated with illicit financial flows and examine the link with tax non-compliance. The topic has been highlighted by the Africa Economic Outlook for 2015 which found that 65% of illicit financial flows take place through international business transactions involving tax evasion, incorrect invoices and abusive transfer pricing involving multinational enterprises.

African countries see the need to collaborate to combat illicit financial flows and tax evasion involving the continent. The conference will aim to draw up recommendations for African countries to combat the impact of these practices. Strategies discussed at the conference are to include ways to increase voluntary tax compliance by building up a culture of compliance and developing a customer service attitude within tax administrations.

Another possible strategy for tax administrations is the use of educational campaigns through media and new technologies to help taxpayers to understand tax compliance obligations. Tax administrations also need to make taxpayers understand that the risk of detection is real and that the cost of tax evasion in terms of penalties is high.