depa and Revenue Department sign online MOU on public service enhancements
with Big Data, tax filing analytics, modern workforce development in Data Science
25 May 2020, Online – The Digital Economy Development Agency (depa) and the Revenue Department have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to enhance Revenue Department’s data ecosystem with Big Data technologies and data analytics for tax filings. It is the first time among Thai government agencies to sign a legally binding MOU virtually, via Microsoft Teams. Such successful online MOU marks an important step toward a digitally transform government while reducing the risk from coronavirus exposure amid COVID-19 pandemic.
“Our mission has always been to propel Thailand toward a full-fledged digital economy with sustainable and inclusive growth that benefits all Thai people, economically and socially,” said Dr. Nuttapon Nimmanphatcharin, President/CEO of depa. “In this digital era, data is the most important asset that drives such growth. The Government Big Data Institute (GBDi), a subsidiary of depa, will work closely with the Revenue Department to achieve two main goals: to develop a workforce in emerging fields including Data Science and Business Intelligence, and to build predictive and prescriptive models to improve Revenue Department’s internal workflow and public services. Ultimately, these newly developed workforce and improved public services will play a key role in nurturing Thailand’s digital economy according to our mission.”
“Our main objective of this collaboration with depa is to enhance our services to accommodate taxpayers and the public with personalized experience and fair tax policy across all target groups” said Dr. Ekniti Nitithanprapas, the director-general of Revenue Department. “This objective is part of our strategic planning to enhance our data ecosystem and analytics workflows with Big Data technologies in several ways. First, we would like to employ a customer-centric approach by analyzing taxpayers’ behavior from various data sources to design tax policies and public services that match our taxpayers’ needs. Second, we would like to leverage tax filing data to build models and simulations that will improve tax-related predictions. Lastly, this MOU signifies our commitment to develop workforce of the future in emerging fields like Data Science.
“The Revenue Department would like to express our gratitude for depa’s commitment to collaborate on our common mission. This is the first-ever MOU between Thai government agencies signed online to reduce COVID-19 exposure risk and to comply with social distancing measures,” the director-general of Revenue Department gave his closing remarks.
Previously, depa and Revenue Department had collaborated on enhancing public services with Thai digital startups, seeking tax solutions under Hackatax project, which had partly led to this continued collaboration that fosters deep integration among government agencies to drive the country forward. With current collaboration’s focus on building workforce of the future, this collaboration marks a long-term investment to digitally transform the Thai government toward a country with strong digital economy backed by workforce with the right domain knowledge.
In this MOU, Dr. Tiranee Achalakul, the director of GBDi, and Mr. Kriengsak Prasongsukarn, Revenue Department’s Principal Advisor on Performance Improvement, have also attended the ceremony as witnesses.
