The programme for modernising Finland’s tax system was awarded as the second best project in the world

International Project Management Association (IPMA), an international umbrella organisation for project management, today granted the Finnish Tax Administration a major international award in recognition of project expertise. The Tax Administration won the second place in the mega project series for projects with a budget of more than €200 million.

In the Valmis programme, around 70 tax systems that were at the end of their lifecycles were replaced with one commercial off-the-shelf software solution in 2013–2020. At the same time, legislation was also amended and the Finnish Tax Administration’s internal operating processes were updated. The most visible change from the customer’s point of view is the MyTax e-service, where you can manage most of your tax matters. 

Virpi Pikkarainen, who was the Programme Director, says that the goal was crystal clear throughout the programme: to secure the accrual of tax revenue and to ensure that society will continue to have the resources it needs to function. 

Markku Heikura, Director General, says that future taxation is built on visionary thinking, strong commitment and cooperation.  

“Our staff’s continued commitment to the use and development of the new system has been admirable. We could not have made it without them," says Heikura.   

Not only an IT project but a major strategic change  

The new system brought a major change to the emploees’ way of working and required a lot of learning. The entire Tax Administration focused on competence development.  

The projects were evaluated on the basis of a standard defined by IPMA. An international team of six members interviewed our employees, people who had worked in the programme, system and service providers and our customers in June 2021.  

To win global recognition, projects must have the following three things in place: 1) the project is characterised by cooperation, shared goals and high-quality project management, 2) the resources and the ways of working have contributed to the project’s success, and the ways of working have been improved continuously, and 3) from the point of view of key stakeholders, the outcome of the project has been excellent.   

Finnish taxpayers are happy with MyTax 

The part of the Valmis programme that the taxpayers are the most familiar with is MyTax. The e-service received a warm welcome, and today most Finnish taxpayers manage their tax matters in MyTax. MyTax became available to corporate taxpayers in 2017 and to individual taxpayers in 2018.  

“More than 90% of the taxpayers use MyTax, and over 80% say they are happy to use the e-service. This is the programme’s foremost and, at the same time, the most down-to-earth success story,” says Pikkarainen.  

In the MyTax customer survey carried out in summer 2020, MyTax awareness was excellent, and the service’s usability was also graded as good. You can read more about the survey results in this news item (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).