Afip online transactions up tenfold in 2004

Argentine tax agency Afip saw the number of internet transactions increase tenfold in 2004 compared to 2003, the service's general manager for systems and telecommunications, Jorge Linskens, told BNamericas. This year, Afip plans to complete the process of transferring most of its systems to the internet and restructure the organization's core business. The restructuring process began nearly four years ago and aims to increase the number of B2B transactions. Within the next few months, Afip plans to launch the electronic invoicing system, after running pilot tests with nearly 10 mass-market firms. "This system should be operating within a few months, once all rules that regulate [electronic invoicing] operations are ready. Technologically the system is ready to use since it is running over the same infrastructure. Investments in this area were almost zero," he said. "This year we also plan to restructure our tributary account, which is a system implemented nearly 10 years ago, and the customs system called María," Linskens said. The tributary account system helps taxpayers to keep informed about their tax situation and make the correspondent payments online. Meanwhile, María is the IT system oriented at exporting companies, which is administrated by Afip since it also regulates the customs system in Argentina. Afip expects to receive all declarations and payments relating to VAT through the internet by mid-year. Finally, another project planned for the year is the electronic address with which Afip plans to send information to taxpayers instead of using the regular postal service. "It is similar to sending an e-mail but includes all security mechanisms to ensure only the taxpayer will receive it," he added. Since early February, Afip made it mandatory for large taxpayers to present their tax declarations online and make payments through Afip's website. "So far this month the process has worked fine. We expect that by the end of the month or early in March all large taxpayers, including companies and individuals, to sign in to this system," he added. There are nearly 60,000 large taxpayers in Argentina who generate over 3 million sworn tax declarations, of which 30-40% are managed through Afip's website and the rest delivered through banking institutions, "but always electronically. Afip does not have any declaration on paper," Linskens said.