During a visit from the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA) to SA on 6 May, it was clearly defined that there was a need for a better integration between the various tax (Income Tax, VAT and Customs) and financial systems in the RRA, not only to improve process efficiency, but also and most of all to strengthen tax enforcement.
Income Tax and VAT are currently managed by a system developed in-house by RRA. The system has performed well so far, largely due to a qualified IT team which has a good knowledge of it and can easily adapt it to any needs that may arise.
Customs functions are managed by Asycuda 2.7. There is no integration between Asycuda and the above tax systems. Some features which would be required to improve Customs procedures and processes are difficult to put in place. It is often difficult to get the right information from the system.
Some financial information coming from the various tax management systems above are integrated into the accounting system managed by Sage. In order to improve some processes like banking reconciliation and real-time revenue management, a better integration between the tax management packages and Sage needs to be considered.
The RRA has therefore called on Bull to submit a proposal for an analysis of the existing systems and the design of a suitable integration solution, including:
* A detailed implementation plan, defining the process the RRA should follow in order to effect the proposed systems changes.
* Functional specifications, defining the user requirements associated with integrating the Income Tax, VAT, Customs and Finance applications.
* Technical specifications that would enable the RRA IT department to effectively code the required changes to their in-house systems.
Bull`s strong experience in systems integration has shown that it is better to keep what is already working well, and to adapt to our customer`s specific needs, instead of designing a complete new system.
Based on the above philosophy, it has been agreed that the most reliable and the most cost-effective way to meet the RRA`s needs is to maximise the existing systems already in place within the RRA. The feasibility of this maximisation can only be attained if we come back to the essence of the pains encountered by RRA and then analyse them in order to find out if an optimised solution could meet all of the requirements. The required system must:
* Provide RRA with decisional tools to improve revenue collection processes and procedures.
* Provide RRA with tools to develop and implement cost effective strategies to expand the tax base.
* Help RRA increase tax compliance.
* Help RRA combat tax evasion and avoidance.
An integrated datastore system, together with adapted query-based tools, can provide the required level of integration to fulfil these objectives. Such a solution would perfectly address the RRA`s needs without having to invest in expensive and complicated interfacing between the systems (which may also be unreliable).
The integration analysis commenced in mid-July and the entire project will run for an estimated 14 weeks.
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