The African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) was officially launched in November in Kampala by President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.  The Forum comprises 25 member states, with six others as participants. According to the communiqué that accompanied the launch, the mission of the ATAF is to mobilize domestic resources more effectively and increase the accountability of African States to African citizens whilst actively promoting improvements in tax administration through sharing experiences, benchmarking and peer reviewing best practices.

The idea of establishing the ATAF first came about at the Conference on Taxation, State Building and Capacity Development held last year in South Africa. This was attended by African tax commissioners from 30 countries, along with representatives of international organizations, including the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, and donors. The conference mandated a steering group of seven countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda) to work towards the establishment of the forum.

The Commissioner for the South African Revenue Service, Oupa Magashula, has been elected as the first chairperson. He leads a 10-member general council comprising the heads of tax administrations of the elected countries. Each of the five geographical regions of Africa (north, south, east, west and central) elect a regional representative, and the four remaining positions on the general council are filled by a majority vote of ATAF members. The first general council comprises representatives from Botswana, Gabon, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal and Zimbabwe. Morocco is expected to make up the tenth member of the council. The Secretariat will be hosted by the South African Revenue Service.

The ATAF has constituted itself as an independent legal body with a first council meeting to be held in March 2010. In the meantime, it has resolved as a first step to establish a database of African tax systems and methodologies, and an African Tax Centre.