The National Tax Court (TFN), the most important body available to citizens to ensure their right to defense before the tax authorities, will celebrate its sixtieth anniversary of creation in 2020. What can be said about it? The lawyer and member Christian González Palazzo has a lot to say: according to him, people are unaware of the Tax Court and he believes that digitalization is not enough for its federalization. The year 2020 will be an opportunity.
Question: What are the characteristics of the Tax Court?
Answer: The Tax Court is an autonomous body, created almost sixty years ago. It should be supported by its own resources, and although it requires litigants to pay a fee, this income is allocated to general revenues and not to the court, unfortunately. The body has two powers: customs and tax. It is divided into 21 chambers run by members with the same remuneration and pension status as judges of the Federal Administrative Litigation Chamber. Among them, there are three customs chambers and four tax chambers. Each tax chamber is made up of accountants and lawyers, while the customs chambers are made up exclusively of lawyers.
The TFN, with tax jurisdiction, was born with a smaller structure and new chambers have gradually been incorporated. Without a doubt, the structure is insufficient for the growth of litigation, as can be seen in Customs. Foreign trade is a subtle spokesperson for how a country's economy works. When there are delays in providing a jurisdictional response in a timely manner, it is seen outside the doors.
It is an autonomous, independent body that operates under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance. I believe that it is wrong for its operation to depend on the Secretariat of Public Revenue, because we coexist in that orbit with the Federal Administration.
This independent and impartial court reviews the actions of the Federal Administration. It could be compared to the situation of an older brother who collects taxes and a younger brother who says whether the way things are done is right or wrong. The TFN has a justice service, operates on a floor of the Ministry of Production and is controlled by an official of the Ministry of Finance. It is a court that is affected by three different powers: judicial mission, administrative control of the Ministry of Finance and operates in the Ministry of Production. This should be noted in order to strengthen the identity of the court.
Q: Why is it important to use TFN?
A: The TFN is important because it is an agency that taxpayers have to request, prior to an enforcement, that it be checked to ensure that their rights are not affected. The taxpayer has the TFN, an independent and impartial body that will balance what is unbalanced from the start, that is, the struggle between the interests of the taxpayer and the interests of the administration, which is, essentially, to collect taxes. When the taxpayer turns to the TFN, they have these guarantees, since it has expertise, specificity, independence and impartiality. The taxpayer will receive an appropriate response.
The effectiveness of the TFN is another matter of discussion because it is functioning precariously. The organization has long-standing delays in an environment of near-abandonment by the Ministry of Finance, since human resources are a historical debt. The structure of each office is not in line with the needs of the service. Each office should have a structure comparable to a federal administrative court of first instance. Today there are four people in charge, there are four planned positions that have not been filled because there are no competitions and the appeal is to hiring.
Furthermore, the issue of salaries at the TFN is another point to be corrected. The salaries of employees do not have the same scale as those of the Judiciary. Those who accompany us, knowing Customs Law, consider the TFN as a technical scale in their career, with the objective of working in the Judiciary or in Customs or in the private sector. For example, in my position, after eight years of practice, there was a 100 percent turnover of staff. The TFN suffers a permanent loss of qualified professionals. President Macri's administration eliminated the entry of personnel into the State to cut public spending, but the truth is that there has been a migration of people who have not been able to be replaced. Currently, my position operates with two people. This shows the dysfunctionality in the system of a court that exists to guarantee the rights of the taxpayer.
Q: Are taxpayers in the Federal Capital and the interior aware of the existence of the TFN?
A: I am from the interior, Patagonian, Chubut, I was born in Comodoro Rivadavia… When I go to my town, people don’t know what I do, they think I work in a prosecutor’s office and ask what the Tax Court is. Historically, in this pseudo-federal conception of how administration should be, the TFN serves in Buenos Aires. Although it was designed with mobile delegations to be established in any part of the Republic, because it has jurisdiction throughout the country, it has not done so. There was a project to create delegations in different provinces, but it did not advance. So the administered are unaware of the possibility of being able to resort to an administrative, impartial and independent court to guarantee their rights in tax matters. There is a lack of publicity of the rulings and studies on the TFN in universities, but these are not in the entire country; for example, until not long ago, Comodoro Rivadavia did not have a Faculty of Law.
Now, with the electronic file that works through the Remote Procedures (TAD) platform, the spectrum of litigants has been opened. From anywhere in the country, the TFN can be accessed and litigated. It is a qualitative leap towards federalism.
The TFN's jurisdiction is specific. Both Tax Law and Customs Law are technical branches, and Customs Law is almost an occult science in Law. So, who litigates?
Q: What impact did the electronic file have on the management of the TFN?
A: We, in compliance with the demand of the National Executive Branch (because we belong to the Public Administration), implemented the electronic file on the TAD platform, a system for the entire administration. The TFN adapted it to its jurisdictional mission and dysfunctions appeared. It is different from the LexNET system that was designed for the Judicial Branch. I believe that the electronic file was a step that had to be taken for the digitalization of the processes, but it would have been ideal to have its own system taking into account its jurisdictional mission. However, it is positive because it allowed federalization: now anyone can litigate. In addition, electronic notifications make it easier to have personnel available in another function, and immediacy allows for agility in the process.
Q: What proposal do you have to improve the functioning of the TFN?
A: The TFN needs human resources and the service requires that there be an appropriate and properly remunerated staff. This would ensure that the service is provided optimally because it would guarantee that the professional who joins would follow an administrative career with the intention of growing within the organization. If this is not guaranteed, it will be difficult to have suitable and trained jurisdictional operators to respond in a timely manner.
Secondly, the TFN needs to have its own headquarters.
Thirdly, the court needs to have its own electronic system that is fully compatible with that of the Judiciary.
Fourthly, the tax should be paid into the TFN to improve the service it provides to the taxpayer.
Public policies must be implemented based on these four axes to improve the resources that the administrator has at his disposal.
Q: Do you think that the TFN should be within the Judiciary for its best functioning?
A: That would be great! But if we guarantee the four axes mentioned above in the TFN, as well as its autonomy, the discussion on this aspect would take a backseat.
There is a contradiction in what should be the functional independence of the court to optimize the guarantees it provides to citizens, because it operates under the orbit of the Ministry of Finance, alongside the Federal Public Revenue Administration.
Personally, I see two solutions. One would be to operate within the Judiciary and the other, to move to the Ministry of Justice as the General Prosecutor's Office of the Treasury. Here we would share the language... what we do... The TFN does not collect! The TFN administers Justice, therefore, the court should not be dependent on the Ministry of Finance.
For this reason, I believe that the judicial mission and function of the Tax Court, a model adopted by Argentine legislators when the TFN was organized, should be recognized by jurisprudence, as the United States did in the Freytag vs. Commissioner ruling.
Q: How would you summarise TFN, which is about to turn 60?
A: The TFN shone through its jurisprudence during its first sixty years and will continue to do so. The TFN provided an excellent service and will continue to do so. The TFN is a tool that the taxpayer has had to preserve their rights for sixty years and will continue to do so. It is necessary that the State recognize this and provide it with what it needs to continue providing the service it has been providing for sixty years. The year 2020 presents itself as an opportunity to not waste any more time and provide the TFN with what it requires to guarantee a prompt response to the taxpayer. It must be present throughout the country beyond the electronic file. The immediacy between the taxpayer and the administration, between the administration and the judge, must exist. That is what the criminal system is moving towards. For this reason, the Judicial Branch is increasingly present in society's discussions. The TFN must have representation within the country beyond the digital system, the electronic file and the remote procedure. The sixty years of the TFN are an opportunity to bring the court closer to the citizen and the professional, so that the latter can enter the justice system within the administration.
It is 60 years of jurisprudential brilliance of the TFN. 2020 will be an opportunity for it to be part of a public policy that guarantees the service of justice within the administration.
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Mini Bio
Christian Gonzalez Palazzo (42 years old)
*Lawyer with a Master's Degree in Magistracy and Judicial Law
*Father of two daughters, Lucia and Clara
*Read Philosophy of Law
*Play the piano
*Motto: “Omnia in bonum” (Everything for good)
Aduana News is the first Argentine customs newspaper to launch its digital version. With 20 years of experience, its publications and initiatives aim to provide the most relevant knowledge on customs issues in order to contribute to safe trade in the region.
