Core Taxation Information System (TAXIS)

Since middle '90s, the Greek Ministry of Finance concluded that any attempt to renovate and modernize
the National Taxation System would require the absolute support of an Information System that would effectively cover the Tax Office daily work, as well as gather all the necessary information for strategic and tactical decision-making. At that period a new project was conceptually born, with the code name TAXIS (Taxation Information System), representing the new Integrated Information System and encompassing
a large number of well-integrated application subsystems as well as hundreds of servers and thousands
of local workstations located in tax offices all over the country with a central system located in the Ministry
of Finance IT Center.
INTRACOM undertook the provision of the overall Tax Information System, including 17 Application Subsystems and of the Training (Functional, Technical) and Managed Services.
It was a wide integration program as well as a complex and challenging job in terms of architectural
design. Therefore, global knowledge, experience in taxation environments, in-depth knowledge and involvement in large IT integration projects, as well as efficient system architecture, were absolutely necessary for the implementation of TAXIS.

The project involved the following phases:

• Strategic Plan (Master Plan) study
• Development of basic functions (REGISTRY, VAT)
• Development of all the identified interrelated TAX systems
• Conversion of all existing relevant data
• Installation of hardware and software for all tax offices
• Installation of networking components
• Benchmarking
• Testing of standalone systems
• Testing of the integrated system
• Training

In particular, TAXIS includes:

• "Strategic Planning", a preparatory phase concentrating on gathering, analyzing and classifying the
  Tax Office business needs.
• Analysis, Design and Implementation, Requirement Analysis, Functional & Technical design of 17 integrated Application Subsystems
• Study of the transition from the existing to the new system, dealing with processes, roles and responsibilities, etc..
• Training of the development team in the use of Structural Methodologies, Case tools, Relational Databases, and client/server methods. Training services involved seminars, on-the-job training
  and close cooperation with Ministry of Finance experts during the development phase.
• Technical Support, during development of IT systems, with the use of Structural Methodologies,
  Case tools, Relational Databases, planning of seminars, as well as networking, equipment, and
  user support issues.
• Migration of existing data, stored in the old system.
• Provision of "Managed Services" (centrally and on-site), supporting functionally and technically all
  types of users (Tax Officers., administrators, etc.) during the System set-up and production start-up.

Project Scale

TAXIS is considered a large-scale complex project, even according to international standards. This
results from the Project's features (for instance, architecture, geographical distribution, volume of
services, number of users, etc.) as well as from the particularities of the Ministry of Finance and the
broader Greek Public Sector in general. The number of end users approximates 10,000, whereas
dispersed Services (e.g. Local Tax Offices) approximate 300.

Furthermore, tackling with certain parameters, such as limited time allowed for the implementation
of the project, frequent changes in the legal framework, transition of the geographically dispersed existing system, limited familiarization of users with the basic IT and computerization principles, constituted "side" projects, of particular importance for the successful outcome of the whole venture.

INTRACOM designed the production line, customized the development methodology, set standards for systems development in the particular environment, and finally trained over 80 engineers (including
Ministry personnel), according to the Ministry's final technical choices.

The total effort for the development of the system by INTRACOM exceeded 1200 man months.

TAXIS consists of the following subsystems:

• TAXPAYERS' REGISTRY
  The REGISTRY subsystem was the first one to be implemented and deals with the creation of a
  unique taxpayer's tax number (AFM) and business information details.
• VALUE ADDED TAX (V.A.T)
  The V.A.T subsystem supports the automated registration processes, management and confirmation
  of all declarations and applications, as well as the invoicing and follows up of the relevant fines.
• INCOME TAXATION FOR NATURAL PERSON AND LEGAL ENTITIES
  The INCOME subsystem supports all the central and local processes that deal with income tax. This way, all the yearly declarations of natural persons and legal bodies are registered and accessed.
• CAPITAL TAXATION
  The CAPITAL subsystem manages all the declarations for transfer of immovable property and
  for donations and inheritance of immovable and moveable property and will issue all the
  related certificates.
• REVENUES / REVENUES' ACCOUNTING
  The REVENUES subsystem manages detailed financial information that deals with debits,
  payments, returns and deletions.
• TAXPAYER AUDIT
  The TAXPAYER AUDIT subsystem defines the controlling criteria for each case or for similar
  cases according to their particularities.
• TAXPAYER PROFILE
  The TAXPAYER PROFILE subsystem includes complete taxpayer information that makes the creation
  of the taxpayer’s profile possible.
• CROSS-CHECKING
  CROSS-CHECKING is a process of selective separation/grouping of taxpayers through which possible tax evaders will be located.
• VEHICLE TAXATION
  The VEHICLE subsystem manages vehicle registration. In addition, it supports the process of assessment, certification, and deletion of circulation fees, as well as the issue of payment notifications.
• CODE OF BOOKS AND ELEMENTS (C.B.E)
  The C.B.E subsystem manages information related to the certification, cancellation and loss of books and elements, as well as the information related to the tills.
• LEGAL ACTIONS
  The LEGAL ACTION subsystem keeps track of all legal affairs and actions as well as of the
  management of enforcement and securing acts of administrative execution. It also supports the
  debts' arrangements and issues automatically all the related documents.
• EXPENSES / EXPENSES’ ACCOUNTING
  The EXPENSES subsystem deals with payment titles and maintains a registry for the salaries of the public servants per LOCAL TAX OFFICE. It keeps daily updated accounting and the file of the supporting payment documents.
• OTHER TAXATION
  The OTHER TAXATION subsystems automates all the processes of assessment, payment and follow
  up of all other taxes except for the basic ones as they have been described above.
• PROTOCOL / ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM
  The PROTOCOL subsystem manages the incoming and outgoing documents handled in LOCAL
  TAX offices, as well as receipts and mail. In addition, it has the ability of registration with the use of scanners, and also classification, filling and search of documents.
• LOCAL TAX OFFICE INSPECTION AND AUDIT
  The LOCAL TAX OFFICE INSPECTION subsystem keeps track of the LOCAL TAX OFFICES regular operation and gives statistical information on their business cycle.
• PROPERTY TAX EVALUATION
  The Property Tax evaluation module includes information on housing zones and their values for the objective evaluation of immovable property as well as the rental value for evaluation of minimum
  income.

TECHNICAL ENVIRONMENT

The adoption of a similar taxation system such as TAXIS yields the following benefits for the Ministry of Finance:

• An Increase in efficiency and productivity: Increase of tax revenues, decrease of tax evasion, better planning and control, better service for taxpayers, better use of human resources.
• The Adjustment of individual requirements: Incorporating new taxes, adapting to evolving legislation
  on taxation, local language support.
• Provision of optimal and effective services to taxpayers
• Increase of the Ministry's functional capabilities
• Contribution to the advancement of digital economy