B. A SUCCESS WHICH IS ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE SPECIFIC FEATURES OF THE ESTONIAN DIGITAL ADMINISTRATION
The Estonian system is very close to that proposed by the Working Group, in its provisions and in its voluntary nature .
The following observations need to be made about this success:
- i t is primarily a matter of political will : with 1.3 million inhabitants, Estonia is not a key market for a multinational company like Uber . The country has also opted for the contractual rather than legislative way . This example suggests that, when the other conditions are met for simple implementation of the system, excellent results can be obtained;
- the success of the system is attributable to a large extent to the excellence of Estonia in e-administration . Ranked n°1 in the European Unions ranking in the Digital Economy and Society Index (DESI) in the online public services category 103 ( * ) , Estonia allows its citizens to complete nearly 90% of their administrative procedures via the Internet: voting, registering births, applying for identity documents, vehicle registration, registration in the commercial register, etc. Entirely online, the administrative authoritiesinformation system is therefore particularly well suited to an interconnection with an online platform like Uber ;
- t he system is presented as a service to users : although it helps to ensure fair taxation of an economic sector which partly previously avoided it, it also offers taxpayer drivers the ability, in just a few minutes via the dedicated Internet portal, to deduct their expenses or their deductible VAT, or register themselves in the commercial register.
The Estonian example can be compared to that of the collection of the touristtax in France : although permitted by a legislative provision, it is carried out on a voluntary basis by Airbnb , which currently implements it in nearly 50 French towns and cities. However, a general roll-out of this mechanism has experienced a lot of delay, which is attributable to the absence, and then to the failings, of the public information system in allowing the platform to have the information available to it needed for collection (i.e., the base and rate applicable in each municipality, as well as its bank details).
Adequate preparation of the information systems therefore appears to be an essential prerequisite for implementing automatic reporting in France, with regard to taxation and social contributions.
* 103 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/scoreboard/estonia