Information Technology in Venezuela

In Venezuela, in accordance with the objectives of the National Executive contained in Decree 825, the use of technological advances such as the Internet constitutes a "priority policy for the development and adaptation of administrative activity". Therefore, the obligation of the organs of the National Public Administration to include in the development of their activities, goals related to the use of the Internet to facilitate the processing of the matters of their respective competences is foreseen. It also establishes that public bodies should preferably use the Internet to exchange information with individuals. However, considering the Internet as a tool to streamline public management, is an issue that must be treated with great care, especially when dealing with relations between Administration-administered, because in these cases legal security requires that the individual know in advance the rules that will govern the exchange of information with the Administration via Internet. Consequently, the first step that the Tax Administration must take is to incorporate into our legal system, express norms that regulate this new form of communication in the management of taxes. The use of information technology in the administrative activity - and especially the taxation - will imply important possibilities both from the point of view of the Administration -by allowing a better and more efficient tax management-, and from the prism of the best satisfaction of the rights and interests of the citizen, since these would greatly facilitate the fulfillment of formal duties. However, the potential dangers of the irrational automation of tax administrative procedures, as well as those related to the circulation of personal data and information, are also important risks that must be foreseen when implementing advances in information technology to tax management.