b'IMPACT STATEMENT 2023PEACE, JUSTICEPublic FinancialIncreasing revenue Management Practice:collection in Nepalhelping governmentsIn Nepal, we have supported the Government with AND STRONG manage resourcespublic financial management since 2013 including through the development of SuTRA, a web-based system for expenditure management used by all 753 effectively recently formed local governments. INSTITUTIONS If governments are to make significant progressCurrently, revenue and expenditure in Nepal are often towards achieving the SDGs, it is crucial thatwell below budget, which limits the governments they can mobilise and use financial resourcesability to provide vital public services, such as the effectively. Unreliable government budgets and poorprovision of adequate infrastructure.accounting processes undermine good governanceInadequate revenue collection systems have and transparency. contributed to the problem. For example, local Through our Public Financial ManagementPublic Financial Management (PFM) systems ingovernments have relied on citizens paying their Practice, we work with governments toall countries encounter technical and politicaltaxes voluntarily because they havent had the challenges, but they are particularly acute insystems to ensure enforcement.mobilise and use financial resources asresource-constrained settings. Such challenges canTo address this issue, our UK Aid-funded Interim undermine service delivery, create opportunities forSupport on Public Finance Management to the effectively as possible.fraud, and erode citizens trust in government. British Embassy Kathmandu Project enhanced For decades, we have worked with governmentsSuTRA with a revenue management module that Crown Agents is also a partner foracross the world to support PFM reform processes.enables local authorities to reach out to citizens Good international practice provides a foundation,proactively via mobile phone. governments to repatriate Illicit Financialbut solutions need to be tailored to local contexts. The module ensures tax assessment is done online Flows (IFFs) and use the recovery toWe partner with clients to identify opportunities forand that payments are made via bank transfer. This local reform, design context-appropriate responses,will result in fewer errors than under the previous contribute towards healthy and implement sustainable improvements across allmanual, cash-based system; improve revenue stages of the budget cycle, and monitor the progresscollection and ensure fewer reconciliation issues.resilient nations. of reform efforts.Thanks to the module, taxpayers now know their tax liability at the beginning of the year. This will substantially increase revenues.Mr. Dhan Bahadur Basnet, Accounts Officer, Dhulikhel Municipality, Bagmati Province, NepalOur revenue management model introduced bySuTRA is used byover 400 of Nepals753 local governments26 27'