Background and goal of the investigation
When the Norwegian Tax Administration was reorganised during the period 2008-2009, it was facing considerable challenges relating to tax crime and had to strengthen its control and collection activities aimed at the more demanding segments of business and industry. At the same time, there was a need for a more professional phone and guidance service that could provide better service to taxpayers.

The goal of the investigation was to assess whether the results of the reorganisation of the Norwegian Tax Administration are in accordance with the intentions of the Storting.

Method
The investigation is based on document reviews, statistics from the Norwegian Tax Administration, interviews, a list of questions, a questionnaire survey and the results of two external surveys.

Results
The investigation shows that the reorganisation has improved important aspects of tax administration. In this connection, reference is made to the strengthening of tax crime units in the regions, the establishment of the Tax Hotline and the emphasis on the tax offices' guidance function.

The reorganisation proved more demanding than the Norwegian Tax Administration had anticipated, however. Among other things, the investigation shows that about 2,000 employees were given completely or partially new duties. That was twice the number estimated by the Norwegian Tax Administration. Many employees left, but were not replaced due to a recruitment freeze. This led to a weakening of the organisation's basic competence in key production areas. It was therefore not possible to maintain important parts of the Tax Administration’s production, such as control activities and case processing times, at the desired level in 2008 and 2009.

The investigation shows that the Norwegian Tax Administration's overall control activities targeting businesses and companies decreased during the period 2006-2010. The surveys carried out also show that the perceived risk of detection among businesses and companies decreased during the same period. The total effect of this could be inadequate detection of tax evasion and a weakening of the preventive effect of control activities.

The consideration of appeals by the appeals boards for tax and value added tax still takes too long, and the investigation shows a negative trend in this respect between 2006 and 2010. Both types of appeals can involve considerable sums, and long case processing times in these areas can have a negative effect on businesses as well as individual taxpayers.

The establishment of the Tax Hotline as a nationwide phone service has to a great extent given users equal access to the Tax Administration. However, the investigation shows that the Tax Hotline is less accessible at the time of year when users' need for assistance is greatest. The investigation also shows that there is a need to improve the quality of the guidance provided to the general public, both by the Tax Hotline and the tax offices. Although the reorganisation did not entail any significant changes to the office structure, the closure of several offices before and after the reorganisation has reduced accessibility to the Tax Administration’s offices for users.
The investigation shows that the Norwegian Tax Administration's cooperation with four of the most important public agencies has not improved since the reorganisation, despite the fact that this was one of its goals.

The investigation does not provide a basis for concluding that changes in goal attainment during the investigation period are due to the reorganisation alone, as there could be several reasons for the results achieved by the Norwegian Tax Administration today.