I have to give it to our tax inspectors, the VAT payment morale is under pressure: all those freelancers are up to their ears in assignments, or simply forget to do the administration before they leave for their winter holidays. That problem deserves a solution, but I wonder, to what extent has the VAT Alert led to a significantly improved payment behavior. In fact, the app barely hits the charts in the App-store, with many sceptical reviews, such as 'fake app' and 'nonsense app'. As a specialist in the efficient and adequate uses of data streams, I cannot help but join the flow of critics. App Alert!

Data link

What's wrong? The tax authorities could have done much more by including the income tax or corporation tax. However,  I can imagine that the tax authorities first want to experiment quietly before the service can be implemented succesfully. More annoyingly, it lacks a bit of intelligence. Because the app does not contain any useful data links, it is actually a 'mindless' tool. If you have the app, you will in any case get a reminder- even if you have already paid! With a simple data link between the app and the entrepreneurial data, you can ensure that only those who threaten to forget the VAT declaration, or the payment of it, get an app: safe, discreet but effective. If you have just filed your declaration, the app sends you an encouraging 'thank you for your declaration'. It is just a matter of what fields are programmed and which boxes are checked. There is a good chance that the money will be received by the Tax Authorities much earlier than with the current procedure, whereby the Tax Authorities report more than two months later that a tax return or payment has not been made (and impose a fine).

By choosing an app, the Tax Authorities leave a large group of 'customers' unattended. With a simple e-mail, a whatsapp message or a text message from the tax authorities (easily selected by the user) you could reach everyone who has not yet paid in one go. With a clear piece of public information via website, flyers or Facebook, the taxpayer can be pushed in the right direction: 'paying late is costly, so make a recurring note in your outlook agenda!'

App mania

Dear people, developing apps is not one of the cheapest things to do. Given the limited functionality and the fact that reminders are not linked to the actual tax data of the user, we can safely consider the VAT Alert app is tax money pointlessly spent. I am curious about what was happening in the minds of decision-makers when making this move. Which virus took possession of the boardroom of the tax authorities? I'm afraid it was a serious form of app mania.