About CATA

The Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) was established as the result of a decision taken at the meeting of the Commonwealth Finance Ministers in Barbados in 1977. Following this decision, CATA's constitution was drawn up and an Interim Management Committee was elected at a meeting of senior Commonwealth tax administrators held in London from 22-23 May 1978. Initially, twenty seven Commonwealth countries were enrolled as Members of CATA. Limited staff support was provided by the Commonwealth Secretariat until July 1980 when an Executive Secretary was recruited and an office was set up within the Commonwealth Secretariat premises. During the first few years, CATA functioned mainly as a clearing house and undertook o­nly a limited range of activities, i.e. organising annual technical conferences and publishing a quarterly Newsletter.

The purpose of the Association is to promote the improvement of tax administration in all its aspects within the Commonwealth with particular emphasis o­n developing countries. To this end the activities of the Association may include:

1. holding meetings of technical and administrative personnel in tax administration for the exchange of ideas and experiences;

2. organising seminars, workshops and training courses o­n aspects of tax administration; collecting, analysing and disseminating information o­n tax administration;
3. providing directly or, collaborating with, and generally facilitating, the work of bilateral and multilateral agencies providing technical assistance and research facilities in the field of tax administration;
4. generally carrying out functions related to the overall improvement of the capabilities of tax administrations through functional co-operation between and among Commonwealth countries.