Brazil implements an appointment-scheduling system for taxpayer assistance

The Receita Federal de Brasil (RFB), in its strong commitment to electronic administration, is currently in the process of implementing an appointment-scheduling service for attending to taxpayers who wish to go to its offices in person to receive information and assistance, respond to notifications, request certificates, or carry out any other transaction.

The objective of the visit was to learn about the Spanish system in order to implement an appointment-scheduling system for taxpayer assistance in the Receita. The exchange visit enabled the civil servants from the Receita to learn first-hand the possibilities for improvement in the area of informing and assisting taxpayers in tax matters based on prior knowledge of the reality of this service in the Spanish tax agency, how it was developed, the problems encountered in its implementation and how each of them was addressed.

The methodology followed was to share the experience in the recent implementation of an appointment-scheduling system in Spain. In parallel, different visits were made, one to the platform for taxpayer assistance in the headquarters of the Special Delegation in Andalusia, and another to the one specifically designed for the personal income tax campaign.

Lastly, various essential elements in the appointment-scheduling service were addressed, such as the computer applications for managing queues of taxpayers waiting in offices to complete transactions of different kinds, and the computer application for managing the appointment-scheduling service itself; handling of complaints or incidents that arise in provision of the service; and the organisational rules that cover provision of taxpayer information and assistance services.

This represents a strategic change in the relationship of the tax agency with the taxpayer, bringing it closer to the citizen, avoiding unnecessary visits and improving the efficiency of the services, while at the same time improving its image with the taxpayer, who appreciates being assisted on the date and time requested, and considerably reducing assistance and waiting times at the tax agency’s offices.

This activity is part of the Voluntary Compliance action of the Public Finance area of the EUROsociAL II cooperation Programme, which is financed by the European Union and coordinated by the FIIAPP, in which Spain’s State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT) and the Inter-American Centre for Tax Administrations (CIAT) are acting as operational partners.