In accordance with Decision 2235/2002/EC, the Commission presented the final evaluation of the Fiscalis programme 2003-2007 which aims to assess the effectiveness and efficiency of the programme's activities in relation to the objectives. The latter's relevance had already been examined at the time of the mid-term evaluation, carried out in 2004-05.

The final evaluation was launched in November 2007 and finalised in June 2008. It covered the entire scheme (2003-2007). The European Commission commissioned Deloitte to perform the final evaluation of the Fiscalis programme 2003-2007. Four evaluation criteria were examined: i) Effectiveness of Fiscalis in reaching its objectives; ii) Efficiency, considering the resources used and the results obtained; iii) Utility of the programme results vis-à-vis the needs identified and the resolution of problems; v) Sustainability of the programme results in the medium and long term.

The report concludes that Fiscalis 2003-2007 was an efficient programme as the formal and informal cooperation created was highly valuable compared to the programme's cost. As regards the informal cooperation, it should be continuously supported by the programme in the future to maintain the existing networks and to extend their scope (on new subjects and with additional national tax officials).

The evaluation recommends that the Commission (EC) and/or the participating countries (PC):

continue ensuring the flexibility of the programme (EC); create a taxonomy of programme activities , linking each type of action to the programme objectives and making information on programme activities and their outputs more accessible to the stakeholders (EC); develop performance and result indicators for the programme, in addition to the performance indicators already existing for the communication and information-exchange systems, in order to systematically measure the impact of the programme (EC); collect information on actual results in a structured manner and establish an audit trail for the different activities. The use of web-based evaluation and reporting tools should be explored. Additional reporting duties should put as little additional strain on resources as possible (EC/PC); improve and structure the information dissemination of the programme outputs (EC); raise awareness of senior managers within national administrations by developing specific activities to increase dissemination of information and support the programme's development. Senior managers should be more informed about the possibilities offered by the programme to respond to their needs (EC/PC); ensure the sustainability of networks of officials, beyond Fiscalis activities. The use of online collaboration tools (e.g. meetings on the web) should be explored, taking into account the legal constraints for exchange of information (EC); continue optimising the communication and information-exchange systems and urge national stakeholders to improve the speed and accuracy of data exchanged. The relation with the joint actions should be strengthened in order to allow Member States to formally express their needs and expectations from the communication and information-exchange systems (EC/PC); develop common training modules on taxation topics and continue supporting blended learning (EC/PC); encourage the use of multilateral controls by all Member States when appropriate. Multilateral controls are a very important tool, indispensable to effectively control the correct application of Community legislation, to fight fraud and to deal with tax avoidance. Furthermore, they have a strong dissuasive effect on taxpayers who want to abuse the tax system (EC/PC); consider developing activities on insurance premium taxes and further stimulate activities on direct taxation (EC/PC); continue using the programme to encourage brainstorming on existing and prospective issues ahead of the legislative process (EC/PC); enhance the Fiscalis programme identity and make it a synonym for tax cooperation in the EU. This could include wider use of the Fiscalis logo to identify programme tools, activities and outputs (EC/PC).

PURPOSE: A mid-term evaluation of the FISCALIS 2007 programme.

CONTENT: The purpose of this evaluation is to analyse the impact of actions financed and organised by the Fiscalis 2007 programme during its first two years of operation. It examines to what extent the objectives of the Programme have been achieved and their effectiveness in terms of a cost/efficiency ratio. Its relevance as a financial programme has also been examined by comparing the Fiscalis programme to the needs of the administrations concerned. To recall, the total budget of the programme was increased in 2004 to EUR 67 250 million with around 70% earmarked for IT applications and the remaining 30% for other related actions, such as seminars, training activities and the exchange of officials.

The conclusions of the mid-term review find that:

- Both financial and human resources are used in an efficient manner. Fiscalis participants also agree that its activities offer value for money.

- The seminars and projects groups appear to be efficiently run. There is widespread satisfaction with seminars and it would appear that the cost per participant to seminars is the lowest of all joint actions. Group exchanges, on the other hand, are sometimes perceived as being too long, while their cost is relatively high.

- Flexible financial arrangements for joint actions continue to give cause for concern. For project groups, funding per participating country has, at times been too limited to permit the attendance of experts needed for the discussion of specialised technical issues.

- MVS and EWSE information is updated on a timely basis and provides accurate data. MVS seems to be a more effective tool to detect irregularity than EWSE.

- VIES appears to offer good value for money, even if the accuracy of information can be further improved upon.

- There have been no major staff changes in the period 2003-2004. Typically, the number of staff involved in the operation and development of VAT applications (VIES) within a participating country seem to be in the range of 3 to 7 persons, devoting roughly half of their time to this work.

Based on its conclusions, the Commission recommends that the organisation of exchanges, particularly group exchanges, should be reviewed for the sake of increased efficiency. Other recommendations include providing interpreters for seminars, running joint activities in smaller groups in order to facilitate individual interaction with similar languages and professional skills and monitoring the selection of participants to ensure that the most qualified people attend the right actions.