From AI ambition to implementation: CATA AI Taskforce bootcamp in Dar es Salaam

On 25–26 August 2026, the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA), the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) and the International Growth Centre (IGC) brought together members of the CATA Artificial Intelligence Taskforce in Dar es Salaam for a two-day practical bootcamp on using artificial intelligence, data analytics and digital tools to support smarter, fairer tax compliance. The central takeaway was that adopting AI well requires administrations to think deeply about the fundamentals: clean and connected data, clear operating processes, appropriate governance, capable teams, management ownership and credible evidence on what works.

Across the two days, participants moved from general discussion of AI to the practical design choices needed to make AI-enabled compliance systems deployable, trusted and useful. The bootcamp focused on: fraud detection, risk profiling, audit selection, third-party data and differentiated compliance follow-up.  The programme combined practitioner experience, peer learning and hands-on implementation labs. Taskforce members then applied a readiness framework to their own priority use cases, identifying the foundations already in place and the binding constraints that would need to be addressed before piloting, deploying or scaling.

A central implementation takeaway was that it is very difficult to demonstrate the return on investment from AI adoption if evaluation is not built into the action plan from the beginning. Contributions from Tejaswi Velayudhan of UC Irvine and Taha Barwahwala of UC Berkley brought high-quality technical and academic expertise into the room, helping participants

distinguish between model accuracy, policy impact and return on investment. The discussion underlined that, because AI tools can involve high upfront and ongoing costs, revenue administrations will increasingly need to show not only that an AI tool works technically, but that it changes administrative decisions in ways that improve compliance, justify costs and manage taxpayer burden.

CATA, TRA and IGC extend sincere thanks to all Taskforce members and contributors who made the bootcamp possible. Outputs from Dar es Salaam will now feed into the  Taskforce’s continuing work programme, including preparation for the CATA Annual Technical Conference in Arusha in October 2026.