Tax Authorities Modernizes Digital Workplace

The modernization applies to the 46,000 employees of the Tax Authorities, Customs, and the Benefits Agency. The choice to switch to M365 is part of a careful process where safety, functionality, and availability are central. With the transition to M365, employees gain access to an environment that meets all the requirements that will also be placed on the execution in the future. This allows employees to collaborate more efficiently and flexibly, and citizens and businesses can be assisted more quickly. Moreover, a transition is necessary because the maintenance of the current environment is becoming increasingly expensive and knowledge is becoming scarcer.

In 2021, the process to transition to a new workplace with more modern functionalities and better security was initiated. Due to geopolitical and societal developments regarding the use of the cloud by government organizations, the Tax Authorities waited with the final implementation. The service first carefully worked out and weighed a number of alternative scenarios.

Attention was also explicitly paid to risks such as disruptions due to possibly changing geopolitical relations. The Tax Authorities have prepared a comprehensive risk analysis and also made additional agreements with the supplier. An example of this is that data will be processed and stored in data centers within the European Economic Area (EEA). An exit strategy will also be implemented should there be a need to leave the cloud environment (suddenly). This ensures that the services to citizens and businesses remain safe and reliable, even in unforeseen circumstances.

The choice to transition to M365 is currently the only realistic option to remain future-proof and service-oriented. At the same time, the Tax Authorities continue to advocate for strengthening digital autonomy. Therefore, the Tax Authorities will also contribute to the Dutch Digitalization Strategy (NDS) in the coming years and the goal of working together on an exploration of a government-wide sovereign cloud service.