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Ministry | The Tasks of the Federal Ministry of Finance |

Directorate General V

Slogan

The Directorate General for IT and Public Relations is the central interface between the competent divisions and IT service providers on our path to electronic government.

Data and facts

The development of information and communications technology has considerably increased in terms of dynamics and speed. The Austrian tax administration is one of the most modern in Europe as far as the use of information technology is concerned. The highly qualified IT support of the extensive offsetting activities is one of the core tasks of the Ministry of Finance. The goal must be to maintain and safeguard this quality standard. This should also provide benefits to other administrative areas. In the area of information technology the Federal Ministry of Finance performs many trend-setting tasks which also involve interaction with other Ministries.

Range of activities

These taks are successfully implemented and supported by approximately 110 employees. Provided that the necessary resources are available. The IT budget for 2003 amounted to 105.8 million Euro. The satisfactory result: as regards workplace equipment, in 1999 the Ministry of Finance was fully equipped with personal computers. The overall IT infrastructure currently comprises about 14,000 personal computers (including notebooks), 300 network servers, 119 application servers, 2 host systems as well as Cooperate Network Austria (CNA) with approximately 300 routers.

The increased use of IT not only means a wave of modernisation for the administration but also essentially facilitates communication between citizens, economic operators and the tax administration.

The project FINANZOnline was started already in 1998. This is a procedure of the Austrian tax administration for the electronic transmission of data based on Web (Internet) technology. Under the motto "dealing with authorities by mouse click" it is possible to make online queries, changes and transfers concerning tax data. The final stage of development will be reached in 2004 and it should enable unlimited and reciprocal electronic communication between the tax administration and the citizens and economic operators: the electronic transmission of tax returns and tax notices.

As regards tax assessment and tax collection – i.e. the core areas of the tax administration – the officer in charge is currently responsible for all steps in processing, i.e. from data input to assessment of tax by way of notice of assessment. This procedure is supported by an electronic file, electronic processing advice and an electronic system of approval.

In addition to supporting the interests of domestic economic operators, the Austrian customs administration is becoming increasingly important on the international level. The goal is to achieve harmonization of customs clearance modalities and of the various IT concepts of countries. By means of the Customs-Europe-Support System (ZEUS) it is possible to obtain web information in real time. The electronic customs declaration (e-Zoll.at) is a paperless procedure with integrated risk analysis, uniform interfaces, fully automated processing and low-cost data collection for the authorities.

Additional measures have been taken in budgeting and accounting for the entire federal administration by restructuring and optimising transaction processes. The former budgetary accounting system of the 1970s has been substituted for the internationally recognized standard software solution SAP/R3.

Also in the area of staff management the former IT processes have been substituted for the use of SAP/R3 with the aim to employ a nationwide and uniform staff management system which is consistently supporting and optimising transaction processes.

The Directorate General for Information Technology is responsible for all payment systems of the Federal State. As a result of innovative administration, citizens have the opportunity to make online payments and pay fees and taxes by means of alternative payment systems (e.g. www.bezahlen.at).

By introducing the electronic file (ELAK) it will be largely possible to have electronic correspondence between the Ministries.

Since 1990 it has been possible in the Federal Ministry of Justice to send certain documents to the court via electronic judicial correspondence. In addition, since July 1999 it has been possible to access, via the Internet, public registers kept by judicial authorities, the land register and the commercial register.

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