A new Tax Justice Network-initiative recently launched. The database, first of its kind, is co-sponsored by Skatteforsk. It systematically collects academic and policy research using administrative tax data and aims to include work from all over the world. In December 2025, the first Admin Data for Tax Justice workshop was hosted in Prague, where Skatteforsk Research Director Ron Davies delivered a keynote address.
As using administrative tax data has become an increasingly common approach to analyzing tax systems, it has become clear that such data is crucial for understanding how tax systems function in practice, and not only in theory. When studying firm behavior, compliance, and tax avoidance, administrative tax data enables a level of precision that surpasses survey or macro data. In particular, such data are necessary to understand how the same policy can have different impacts across people of different incomes, backgrounds, and more. Without such nuance, it is impossible to say whether a policy supports major social goals.
Addressing fragmented access and knowledge
The new database from the Tax Justice Network - supported by partners across academia and civil society - seeks to reduce fragmentation in both access to administrative tax data and knowledge about where such data exists. Some governments have established secure labs, while others have relied on ad hoc, informal arrangements to grant access. Even among researchers, access to and awareness of administrative tax data often depends on personal relationships.
The database opens a wide range of opportunities for researchers, tax administrations, and research funders:
- Early-career researchers can quickly identify what has already been done, in which countries, and using which types of administrative tax data.
- National tax administrations can see how comparable data has been used in other countries and identify approaches that may be relevant domestically.
- Research funders can identify gaps where funding can be concentrated to improve effectiveness and reduce duplication.
- The wider community can use the database as a platform to strengthen standards and shared practices for documentation, anonymization, secure access, and cross-institutional collaboration.
First in-person workshop in Prague
In December, the initiative held its first in-person event. The Prague workshop brought together 35 researchers and tax-administration partners, with the objective of sharing lessons learned, identifying next steps, and strengthening the foundations for long-term collaboration. Ron Davies delivered a keynote in which he outlined what we have already learned from administrative data, and what we hope to learn from it in the future.
Going forward, The Tax Justice Network has several events planned, including a conference in Accra later this year. The database is free, and openly available – and here you can check it out yourself!