Editorial for the special issue "Digitisation in tax law".

Digitisation places particular demands on the law and tax law. For a long time, tax law has been concerned with the difficulties of international taxation of digital business models. International politics has also been discussing the international allocation of taxation rights for quite some time. However, digitisation is also exerting an increasing influence on the assessment procedure and, in contrast to the discussion on the international allocation of taxation rights, this change is taking place in silence. However, these changes are likely to have at least as great an impact on taxpayers and the tax authorities as the current discussions on international tax law. The effects of digitisation are already considerable today: Did you know that fully automated assessments are already commonplace in customs procedures, for example?01 or that in the Canton of Berne, as early as 2017, around 18% of taxpayers will be assessed fully automatically?02

Less surprising is the fact that digitisation is most advanced in the VAT procedure: meanwhile, in the case of VAT, more than 50% of VAT statements are now made electronically.03 With the increasing digitalisation of the assessment procedure, tax authorities will increasingly use risk management systems which, by means of machine learning processes, will enable a significant increase in efficiency at lower costs. At the same time, digitalisation and automation will be increasingly used by taxpayers to optimise taxes and costs.04 This will also fundamentally change the relationship between taxpayers and tax authorities.

We of the zsis) think that this topic is important and have therefore compiled a first issue on the influence of digitisation on tax law. We have succeeded in attracting renowned authors from academia, tax administration and practice. Prof. Nadja Braun Binder writes on the principle of investigation in a fully automated assessment procedure. Claudio Fischer and Valérie Paris present the state of digitisation at the cantonal tax administration and the federal VAT authority respectively. Dr. Christian R. Ulbrich and Katharina Otto illustrate how tax consultancy will use digitization in the future and Matthias Langer and Lara Olms show how Blockchain will change tax consultancy. Finally, Dr. Elisabetta Pfister deals with the driving service Uber provider as a digital operating site.

Table of contents of the main issue "Digitisation in tax law":

• Nadia Braun Binder, The principle of investigation as a challenge to fully automated processes
• Claudio Fischer, The digital tax administration
• Valérie Paris, Numérisation de la procédure de perception de la TVA par devant l'Administration fédérale des contributions
• Katharina Otto and Christian R. Ulbrich, Tax Knowledge Management meets Digital Revolution
• Matthias Langer and Lara Olms, Blockchain Technology: Opportunity or risk for tax consulting?
• Elisabetta Pfister, Ein Uber as a digital business location