Source: Folha de S. Paulo - SP - DINHEIRO - 06/09/2009

LOCAL REPORTING

"Electronic communication between the tax authorities and the taxpayer can prevent a flood of administrative and even legal processes", says Hélcio Honda, legal director of Fiesp (Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo).

The electronic domicile, according to him, will complement the actions that the tax authorities have taken to make tax work more efficient, such as the electronic invoice (NF-e), the Sped (Public Digital Bookkeeping System) tax and the Sped accounting, created to unify tax collection information and curb tax evasion.
The NF-e is a document that replaces the issuance of a tax document on paper and allows the tax authorities to follow in real time the commercial operations of companies. More than 85 million electronic banknotes have been issued in the State of São Paulo by more than 9.000 establishments, which represents R $ 2,2 trillion in goods traded since the beginning of the project, in 2006.

The first companies that should receive the electronic address from the São Paulo Finance Secretariat (the e-mail and password to access the DEC through the São Paulo tax authority portal) are those that already use Sped and NF-e.

One of the difficulties encountered by São Paulo commerce to use the DEC, according to Janaina Lourenço, a lawyer in the Legal Department of Fecomercio SP, is that many establishments are small and are not sufficiently computerized to keep up with the advances of the tax authorities.

The Federal Revenue Service has had electronic contact with taxpayers since December 2005, through digital certification - digital signature recognized by a notary public, which gives the documents the same legal value as those signed by hand. Through this system, companies correct registration information and make adjustments in rendering accounts with the federal tax authorities. (CR and FF)