The Historical Milestones of Tax Volunteers Program

Oleh: Erikson Wijaya, the Directorate General of Taxes officer

Literacy regarding tax policy has been igniting public attention since decades ago. In some countries with a better level of tax literacy, the urgency of tax to fund the government’s plan has evoked more parties to keep an eye on it. Tax issue then has no longer been both tax officials, tax advisors, and taxpayers’ domain anymore. This meets taxpayers’ need to complete their tax tasks with assistance from other parties. When it comes to providers of assistance, there are two possible options including tax officials of the tax administration; or non-officials. It leads to other ones joining like civil society organizations, business associations, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and volunteers. This passage provides a fair discussion on the latter one.

Tax Volunteers in Developed Countries

Tax officials put the presence of a voluntary movement as a way to collaborate with volunteers to assist taxpayers in need. In the United States of America (USA), the history of volunteers’ involvement in dealing with tax issues is traceable to the year 1969. Years later, this participation transformed into a stable community activity. They name it Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) and Tax Counseling for the Elderly (TCE). VITA and TCE are programs with IRS-certified volunteers (Internal Revenue Service). They explain tax credits and prepare basic tax returns. Low compliance in delivering tax returns among taxpayers, a large number of unclaimed tax credits, and unaffordable price to hire tax preparer stimulates some students to help the needy fulfill their tax due and claim their tax credit for the refund.

In Canada, volunteers' engagement with the tax system has been accommodated since 1971 under the scheme of the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP), a collaboration between community organizations and the Canada Revenue Administration (CRA). Taken from the OECD Survey on Taxpayer Education Initiatives (2021), CVITP aims to make sure that vulnerable individuals complete their personal income tax returns to gain access to, and continue to receive, the government credits and benefits for which they are eligible. At this point, there is one strong similarity between VITA, TCE, and CVITP. It is their focus. They put the fulfillment of tax returns and claim tax refunds as the main objectives for either vulnerable or elderly taxpayers. This is also what Australia Taxation Office (ATO) applies by running the Tax Help volunteer program for low-income taxpayers. In Jamaica, its tax authority runs an annual Special Taxpayer Assistance Programme (STAP) to assist micro and small businesses in completing their income tax returns.

Tax Volunteer programs running under various names started inviting students from universities to join since their professors are not only the ones with a strong willingness to provide free tax service but also have extensive tax preparation experience. Credit recognition also strengthens their decision to enroll. Starting in the year 1990, US universities awarded one credit of independent study to students for participating in VITA/TCE. They are considered equal to service learning which is defined as an experiential form of education that facilitates students’ involvement in community activities to complement their academic studies (Miller, 2013). The increase of credit courses to be recognized promotes more students to enroll and contributes to the increase of taxpayers’ compliance. It also allows the students to comprehend to chance of being professional in tax fields once they graduate from university.

Case from Indonesia

The tax Volunteer program emerged in 2017 but there are still pain points that to be mended. It has not run in a massive and organized method yet, and not all students who had signed up to prepare tax returns were not gaining sufficient hands-on tax preparation experience. Indonesia’s tax official the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) started combining a tax volunteer program with a certified internship and independent study (CIIS) program initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. According to this initiative, once students enroll as Tax Volunteers, they do not have to sit in the class that is converted and compensated with the Tax Volunteer program. They complete routine tasks from the program as its substitute. However, this leads to a challenge, in how the Tax Volunteer program needs to be operationalized into action plans, working plans, and many supporting aspects as a guarantee that it is a qualified program to be applied. 

DGT’s strategic plan decree has included the Tax Volunteer program as its initiative. It has been a national program since then. Nevertheless, DGT is still seeking an ideal model to implement into CIIS so that the activities and tasks completed could be awarded credits of course recognition, especially related ones. With a similar intention, one of the DGT region offices has initiated the Tax Volunteer program as its innovation and it turned out running successfully with some additional features as advancement. By adding some tasks, more credits of course recognition become reasonable to be given to the students. South Sumatera and Bangka Belitung Island Regional Tax Office, name it Tax Volunteer Plus. They arrange detailed operations, pieces of stuff, resource allocation, and working plans for the programs. The university partner (University of Nurul Huda at Sukaraja) became the first to implement CIIS by using Tax Volunteer programs and they stipulate up to 15 credit courses for the students. It is a breakthrough. DGT Head Office can accommodate it as a reference for enhancing Tax Volunteer as a national program that is now in the piloting phase.

In DGT Indonesia, the Tax Volunteer program does not set certain criteria for taxpayers to be served. It ranges from any reachable taxpayers to ones with disabilities. Aside from tax return preparation, the students enrolled as volunteers in the program are also demanded to be active in tax issue campaign programs through social media and help small businesses thrive under the scheme of the Business Development Program. This reminds us of what the Togolese Revenue Office (TRO) initiated, which is like a peer education project on tax citizenship. The objective of the project is knowledge sharing and awareness raising. The activities of the peer educators are monitored by OTR officials daily through a messaging platform. Educators post photos or videos of their activities on the platform, making the exchange of experiences instant and national. Peer educators can also use the platform to ask questions of OTR officials and their answers benefit the whole group (OECD, 2021).

Conclusion

In a global world, the Tax Volunteer program is not new. It is traced back to the 1960s when the IRS initiated it to assist vulnerable taxpayers in preparing tax returns and claiming tax credits. It has various names in different countries, e.g.: Australia (Tax Help/ Tax Clinic), Canada (CVITP), USA (VITA/ TCE), and Jamaica (STAP). The focus of the programs is most likely on taxpayers who are unable to hire professional tax advisors. It includes taxpayers with disabilities, veterans, lack of English proficiency, and those who are financially struggling. Volunteer movement in tax issues earns more attention among students in the universities when it is synergized with credit of course recognition. It has been applied since 1990 in US universities. In Indonesia, it has now been in the piloting phase since 2024, but DGT Indonesia's Head Office can also consider the success of its regional office implementing the Tax Volunteer Plus program and combining it with CIIS with the university partner.

*) This article represents the author's personal views and does not represent the stance of the institution. 

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