Lebanon: Technical Assistance Report-Tax and Customs Administration: An Urgent Need for Intervention

This Technical Assistance Report on Lebanon focuses on tax and customs administration’s an urgent need for intervention. Recognizing a downward trajectory, national dialogue on the future of Lebanon’s tax and customs administrations is urgently needed. Inaction and underinvestment to deal with these challenges will forego substantial revenues and prolong the effects of the crisis. Options to help reverse the decline in revenue administration exist, and structural mechanisms for financing reform and modernization need to be explored. An immediate intervention is required to stabilize information technology operations and ensure the continuity of the value added tax and Revenue Directorates’ core operations. Having addressed immediate needs, ‘quick wins’ in tax administration should be pursued while consensus on more substantive reforms is achieved. The report recommends that overreach of the Higher Customs Council beyond administrative policy into operations should cease while work continues to introduce a new organizational structure. The consequence is an inability to readily implement change or effectively manage critical operations.