SA-TIED hosts PITMOD Training for SARS Officials

SA-TIED will host a Personal Income Tax Microsimulation Model (PITMOD) training event from 26 to 28 November 2024 for personnel at the South African Revenue Service (SARS). This intensive three-day workshop, delivered by experts from the Southern African Social Policy Research Institute (SASPRI), is tailored to provide SARS officials with a deeper understanding of how to construct and manage the input dataset for PITMOD using Stata and administrative data.

PITMOD is an important miscrosimulation tool designed to simulate the effects of personal income tax policy changes on revenue collection, income distribution, and taxpayer behavior. The training is expected to equip SARS officials with the practical expertise needed to strengthen PITMOD's role in tax policy evaluation and ensure robust, data-driven decision-making. 

Training Overview 

•  Overview of PITMOD: Key functionalities and structure of the microsimulation model.
•  Datasets: Review of IRP5/IT3a, ITR12 data systems, and third-party information like medical insurance contributions.
•  PITMOD manual: Guidance on constructing personal income tax rules.
•  Required variables: Understanding the variables and EUROMOD naming conventions for the PITMOD dataset.
•  Creating the input dataset in Stata:
• Quality assurance: Best practices for handling data and addressing outliers.
• Sample dataset construction: Creating 1% and 10% samples for analysis.