1.5. Electronic Tax Agency

The Tax Agency has a general information portal on the Internet and an electronic headquarters for carrying out procedures online which can be accessed from the aforementioned portal.

The intensive use of new information and communication technologies has been a constant in the Tax Agency since its creation, which has led it to nowadays have an authentic "electronic Tax Agency" beyond the demands of Law 11/2007, of 22 June, on the electronic access of citizens to the municipal services, constituting the main communication channel of the Tax Agency with the taxpayers. Thus, in 2012 the percentage of use of electronic administration, taking into account both mandatory and voluntary electronic presentation, was 84.6 percent (38.74 percent if only voluntary presentation is considered).

The electronic office guarantees citizens, professionals and companies the right to deal electronically, stated in Law 11/2007. Particularly, it establishes the right to know through electronic means the status of the procedure in which they are interested, to obtain electronic copies of the electronic documents that are part of these procedures, to make enquiries and declarations, to make requests, declaring consent, to formulate pretensions, to make payments, to perform transactions and to appeal against administrative findings and decisions.

The headquarters not only allows you to consult online the processing status of the procedures in which you are interested and obtain a copy of the documents through “My files”, but it also offers the possibility to carry out practically all of the procedures.

It offers an inventory of all the procedures and services that can be carried out electronically, such as filing tax returns and self-assessments, submit applications, declarations or notifications, provide documents and support material, make payments, request and download tax certificates, etc.

A generic form is also made available to the taxpayers at the Electronic Register, through which non-normalised electronic documents can be filed (for example, allegations in a procedure).

As novelty in 2012, the service "My Alerts", that warns to the taxpayer who enters the electronic office about the pending procedures or incidences, has been created.

In order to carry out procedures in the electronic office it is necessary to use any identification and authentication system (electronic signature) established in the regulations. The Tax Agency demands advanced electronic signature systems with general character and especially for legal persons. However, it admits other identification systems with the aim of facilitating the access of taxpayers to the services in the electronic office, like the use of the Secure Verification Code (SVC) of a previously received notification for the carrying out of procedures related with this notification, identification through boxes of a previously presented declaration, codes sent by SMS, etc.

Additionally, for some taxpayers and procedures, the use of the electronic office is obligatory. So the obligatory submission of the main tax returns has grown in the last few years for specific groups like large companies, public and private limited companies.

The Tax Agency, which has for several years been giving the citizens the possibility to receive notifications on line, boosted the establishment from the 1 of January 2011 of a compulsory electronic notifications system for specific taxpayers through the Provided Email Address managed by Correos (at www,060.es) 

With the aim of facilitating the use of the electronic office to all taxpayers, the Tax Agency offers the possibility to carry out procedures on line through a representative, promoting the figure of the social collaborator for the electronic filing of tax returns and communications and for the Register of Powers of Attorney, which allows granting representation for the carrying out of specific procedures or granting general powers of attorney for a number of procedures on line.

Specifically, the Tax Agency has signed a total of 4,000 Agreements or Membership Protocols authorising collaborating institutions to file tax returns on behalf of third parties. In 2012, 28 Agreements and 35 Membership Protocols have been signed. The main social collaborators are tax professionals through their associations and professional associations, although some business associations, financial entities, Public Administrations, etc. also carry out this work of bringing electronic administration closer to the taxpayer.

The Register of Powers of Attorney has also turned into an instrument for tax professionals that facilitates representation credentials to be voluntarily granted by obliged tax payers for the carrying out of every type of procedures (not only the filing of tax returns and appeals). As of 31 December 2012 there were more than a million and a half powers of attorney inscribed in the Register.

Accessibility to the Tax Agency web portal: The Tax Agency's websites obtained the Euracert Accessibility Certification, double-A level, issued by Technosite , part of the ONCE Foundation Group, as certifying authority, after the audit carried out in 2009. Since then, the development of options and the increase of information offered has continued, trying to maintain the guidelines necessary to preserve the double certification- This has helped the public in general, and disabled taxpayers in particular, to voluntarily comply with their tax obligations.

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