Imports Closed Only 1% of the Complaints in the Metropolitan Area
<p style="line-height: 20.8px;"><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">It is the merchandise entering the country that enjoys tax benefits through the verification regime of Destiny. The General Audit Office also noted the performance in Mendoza where the average closed claims amounted to 24%. In the system the Audit detected records that had completion dates prior to the start of the file.</span></p> <div> </div>
The General Audit Office (AGN, for its acronym in Spanish) evaluated the work of the Directorate General of Customs (DGA) in relation to the scheme Destination Check for both the General Department of Metropolitan operations and of the Interior, specifically in Mendoza, and it detected that in the former "only 1% of the complaints were completed."
This percentage "represents 10% of the total reported." In the provincial headquarters "cases concluded amounted to 24% and equivalent to 38% of the overall value in fines." In the latter case, the fact that "the average shipping time to the area of legal complaints made was between 68 and 536 days" was mentioned.
In both jurisdictions the audit team was able to confirm that "the claims are processed without the date of the survey being opened in the respective summary." Both also agree on certain formal errors such as "lack of foliature in the act of accusation and the absence of controls," just to name a few. The report adds that "in most cases they detected procedural inactivity."
Although it is not very popular the Regime verification of destination is "the system by which goods entering the customs territory and that are covered by special provisions, enjoy tax benefits.” For example, all goods intended to increase efficiency, productivity, and quality of the national industry enjoyed this utility.
To carry out the work since 2006 the Tracking System Customs Enforcement (SEFIA) is used. There "all research, procedures, control and external audit of the regime" are recorded. But its performance is not optimal.
The auditors checked "difficulties in software response" and it was the same body audited who confirmed that "consultations in SEFIA do not work" but "they made the appropriate complaints for these problems."
This issue combined with others, such as the failure to consider the maturity or duplication of records in the system, "impact on the reliability and quality of information."
The audit process "begins with the issuance of an intervention order and culminates with the issuance of a report and its respective closure." Reviewing the regulations, it found that "there are no deadlines set for tasks once opened" and are done "according to the human capital available."
The report of the Federal Watchdog, which evaluated the year 2011 and was approved in October 2014, describes that for the metropolitan area, for example, "there is no procedure manual that details the steps involved in each audit." Given this shortcoming "instructions were developed" but "are not unified into a single body and operative to contemplate everything that needs to be done." Added to this is that the document has no institutions. The same applies in Mendoza.
In the Mendoza branch "there is no designated Chief of the Division of Research and External Control Procedures." In the metropolitan area the work of the auditors said that "there is no formal division between those who do the analysis and those who select the case." In both divisions there is no "record selection guidelines established for the goods.”
On evaluations that are registered in the system the AGN made other findings. In the metropolitan area, for example, "there were acts of intervention with an average lead time of 293 days." In other cases "more than one order was created or missing identification data as the Tax ID." They were also seen situations where "the date of the final evaluation report preceded the generation of the order."
In Mendoza some of these shortcomings are repeated, such as the duplication of records and delays in implementation, and others such as "the lack of signature of an officer, unnumbered commands and the absence of some records."