Revenue Administration Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Revenue authority managers, Tax policy officials and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-GPS-073

Before you join: Participants should have basic familiarity with public finance, taxation, government budgeting or public-sector administration.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Revenue administrations must raise lawful revenue while protecting taxpayer rights, maintaining public trust and controlling administrative cost. Weak registration data, low filing rates, poor payment reconciliation, unmanaged arrears and inconsistent enforcement reduce collections and can create unequal treatment. For development agencies and governments, stronger domestic revenue mobilisation supports public services, fiscal resilience and reduced dependence on external financing.

This course examines the operating model of a modern revenue administration, from mandate and legal powers through taxpayer registration, filing, payment, risk management, audit, debt collection, disputes and performance management. Participants learn to segment taxpayers, use compliance risk management, reconcile revenue flows, manage arrears, apply taxpayer-service standards and measure operational results. The course also addresses data governance, digital service channels, integrity controls and reform planning.

Instructor-led sessions combine short technical briefings with public-sector cases, facilitated analysis, group work, operational simulations and application planning. Cases draw on domestic tax administration challenges including VAT refunds, non-filer campaigns, debt recovery, taxpayer-data quality and audit selection. Participants leave with a practical Revenue Administration Improvement Plan, supported by reusable templates for risk assessment, registration-data review, arrears management, performance measurement and reform sequencing. The course is available as a five-day classroom programme in 50+ cities or live online. Training runs from 08:30 to 16:30 each day, providing approximately 6.5 contact hours daily, and participants receive a certificate of completion.

The programme suits public officials and development professionals who need to understand how revenue administration functions and how to improve its operational controls, service quality and collection performance.

What you will be able to do

  • Assess revenue administration performance using tax-gap, compliance-gap and operational indicators
  • Apply taxpayer segmentation to prioritise registration, service and compliance interventions
  • Design a compliance risk treatment plan using likelihood and consequence criteria
  • Reconcile assessed revenue, taxpayer payments, refunds and treasury receipts
  • Prepare an arrears management strategy using debt ageing and collectability analysis
  • Develop audit case-selection criteria and evidence-based assessment documentation
  • Construct a performance scorecard for revenue, compliance, service, integrity and efficiency
  • Produce a sequenced revenue administration improvement plan with measurable milestones

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Ability to diagnose registration, filing, payment and debt-management weaknesses
  • Practical compliance risk assessment methods for taxpayer interventions
  • Stronger capability to interpret revenue administration performance reports
  • Reusable tools for audit selection, arrears prioritisation and refund controls
  • A documented ninety-day improvement plan for a current work responsibility

For your organisation

  • More disciplined targeting of high-risk taxpayers and revenue risks
  • Improved reconciliation between tax systems, payment channels and treasury records
  • Better control of refunds, arrears, audit quality and dispute handling
  • Clearer performance reporting for revenue authority leaders and finance ministries
  • Prioritised reform actions linked to legal, operational and data dependencies

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain the revenue administration mandate and assess its strategic contribution to domestic revenue mobilisation.

  • Revenue administration mandate, tax policy boundaries, and fiscal accountability lines
  • Tax-to-GDP ratio, tax gap, and compliance gap distinguished
  • Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool indicators and evidence requirements
  • Medium-term revenue strategy linked to expenditure and development priorities
  • Segmentation of taxpayers by size, sector, behaviour, and revenue contribution
  • Stakeholder mapping for finance ministries, customs, registries, and local authorities

Participants can identify the legal, governance and integrity controls required for fair revenue administration.

  • Tax law hierarchy: constitutions, statutes, regulations, rulings, and procedures
  • Administrative powers balanced against due process, confidentiality, and proportionality
  • Drafting operational guidance from legislation without creating unauthorised obligations
  • Delegations of authority, separation of duties, and decision records
  • Interagency information-sharing agreements with safeguards for protected taxpayer data
  • Integrity controls addressing conflicts, gifts, discretionary decisions, and misconduct

Participants can assess taxpayer-register quality and define controls for reliable taxpayer data.

  • Unique taxpayer identification numbers linked to civil and business registries
  • Registration lifecycle from onboarding through changes, cessation, and reactivation
  • Master-file data fields, validation rules, duplicates, and data stewardship
  • Register-cleaning campaigns prioritised by revenue risk and service impact
  • Formalisation pathways for microbusinesses, self-employed persons, and informal traders
  • Privacy-by-design controls for collection, access, retention, and data correction

Participants can design taxpayer-service and filing processes that reduce error and support voluntary compliance.

  • Service-channel design for offices, call centres, portals, and intermediaries
  • Plain-language notices structured around obligations, deadlines, payment, and redress
  • Return filing calendars for income tax, VAT, payroll, and excise
  • Pre-populated returns and third-party reporting to reduce filing errors
  • Service standards measured through timeliness, accuracy, accessibility, and resolution
  • Taxpayer education targeted using segmentation, life events, and filing history

Participants can map and control revenue flows from assessment through payment, refund and treasury reconciliation.

  • Taxpayer ledger architecture: liabilities, payments, credits, penalties, and interest
  • Reconciliation between returns, assessments, payment channels, and general ledger
  • Payment allocation rules for principal, penalties, interest, and multiple liabilities
  • Refund control workflow using risk scoring, verification, approval, and release
  • Arrears ageing schedules separating collectible debt, disputed debt, and write-offs
  • Daily revenue reconciliation with banks, treasury systems, and payment providers

Participants can identify, assess and treat major risks to taxpayer compliance.

  • Compliance Risk Management framework applied to registration, filing, payment, reporting obligations
  • Risk differentiation using likelihood, consequence, and treatment priority matrices
  • Behavioural insights applied to reminders, defaults, and message framing
  • Treatment plans combining education, nudges, monitoring, and enforcement
  • Third-party data matching for underreporting, nonfiling, and identity discrepancies
  • Compliance improvement plans with owners, milestones, indicators, and review dates

Participants can plan risk-based audit work and prepare defensible tax assessments.

  • Case selection using risk rules, random samples, and intelligence referrals
  • Audit planning memorandum defining scope, periods, issues, evidence, and milestones
  • Indirect audit methods: bank deposits, net worth, mark-up, and unit methods
  • Evidence chains, interview records, working papers, and quality review requirements
  • Assessment notices explaining adjustments, legal grounds, penalties, and appeal rights
  • Audit closure decisions: assessment, no change, voluntary disclosure, or referral

Participants can prioritise debt collection actions while maintaining lawful dispute and hardship procedures.

  • Debt inventory segmented by age, amount, collectability, and taxpayer behaviour
  • Collection case strategy using reminders, instalments, offsets, liens, and garnishment
  • Hardship arrangements assessed against affordability, compliance history, and safeguards
  • Dispute-resolution pathways from objection through administrative review and tribunal appeal
  • Settlement authority, documentation, and consistency controls for negotiated outcomes
  • Write-off governance distinguishing uncollectible debt from extinguished tax liability

Participants can specify data governance and digital control requirements for revenue administration services.

  • Data governance roles for ownership, quality, access, retention, and disposal
  • Interoperability standards connecting revenue systems, customs, treasury, and registries
  • Dashboard design using filing, payment, arrears, audit, and service indicators
  • Data-quality controls: completeness, validity, uniqueness, timeliness, and consistency
  • Cybersecurity basics: role-based access, audit trails, incident reporting, backups
  • Digital inclusion measures for low-connectivity users, disabilities, and assisted channels

Participants can set performance measures and produce a sequenced plan for revenue administration improvement.

  • Performance framework linking strategic outcomes, outputs, service standards, and indicators
  • Balanced scorecards for revenue yield, compliance, service, integrity, and efficiency
  • Baseline assessment and target setting using disaggregated operational data
  • Reform roadmaps sequenced by legal dependencies, capacity, cost, and risk
  • Change-management plan covering sponsors, communications, training, resistance, and feedback
  • Personal application plan with ninety-day priorities, owners, and evidence measures

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Revenue Administration Improvement Plan template
  2. Taxpayer segmentation and registration-data review model
  3. Compliance Risk Management assessment matrix
  4. Revenue reconciliation and refund-control checklist
  5. Arrears ageing and collection-prioritisation template
  6. Revenue administration performance scorecard

Who should attend

  • Revenue authority managers — responsible for improving collection, compliance and taxpayer service
  • Tax policy officials — need operational insight to translate legislation into administrable rules
  • Ministry of finance staff — monitor domestic revenue performance and reform priorities
  • Customs and border revenue officers — coordinate taxpayer data, compliance intelligence and collection controls
  • Development programme managers — oversee domestic revenue mobilisation support and institutional reform
  • Public financial management advisers — connect revenue administration performance with fiscal planning

Skills and tools covered

Taxpayer segmentationCompliance risk managementRevenue reconciliationArrears managementTax audit planningPerformance measurement

Tools and standards

Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT), IMF Medium-Term Revenue Strategy, Compliance Risk Management Framework, Balanced Scorecard

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish core concepts, followed by public-sector cases, facilitated group analysis and structured simulations. Participants analyse taxpayer registers, filing data, payment records, debt inventories, audit files and performance dashboards. Group exercises apply compliance risk management, arrears segmentation, refund controls and reform sequencing to realistic administration scenarios. Facilitated discussion compares institutional choices and safeguards. Each participant develops an application plan that identifies priorities, responsible roles, evidence sources and review measures for their own setting.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic familiarity with public finance, taxation, government budgeting or public-sector administration. At least one year of experience in a revenue authority, ministry of finance, customs administration, development programme or related advisory role is useful. Participants should be comfortable reading operational reports, discussing administrative procedures and working with simple performance data. Prior technical experience in tax auditing, tax law, accounting, statistics, information technology or specialised revenue software is not required. The course explains core concepts before applying them to operational decisions.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants need basic familiarity with public finance, taxation or public administration. Specialist experience in tax law, auditing, accounting or revenue information systems is not required.

Bring a laptop if possible and, where permitted, examples of non-confidential operational reports, process maps or performance indicators. No specific software or technical equipment is needed.

The course is designed for revenue authority staff, finance ministry officials, customs officers, public financial management advisers and development professionals. It is particularly useful for staff involved in revenue reform, compliance, taxpayer services, collections or performance reporting.

Tax policy courses focus on the design of taxes, rates and exemptions, while public financial management courses address the wider budget cycle. This course focuses on the administrative systems and decisions that register taxpayers, collect liabilities, manage compliance and account for revenue.

Participants can use the provided templates to review a taxpayer register, prioritise arrears, assess a compliance risk or strengthen payment reconciliation. The final application plan identifies actions that can be taken within ninety days.

The programme contains ten modules of approximately three contact hours each, supplemented by breaks, review and application planning. Each training day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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