What to do when eGovernment fails? – eKapija looks into who to send complaints and suggestions to

The problems that the economy and citizens face in doing everyday activities, such as long and slow queues, having to go somewhere several times to do the same thing, excessive and very often complicated paperwork, the working hours of services and high administrative costs, should all be overcome by the implementation of electronic government in various institutions. However, what to do when eGovernment fails and when you are no longer “a click away” from finishing something, and there's no one at the counter to ask what to do? Who can citizens and the economy complain to? The eKapija portal has looked into this issue by asking questions to the Tax Administration, the Republic Geodetic Authority, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure and the Office for IT and eGovernment.

Still, even after more than two weeks since we sent these questions, we didn't receive responses from the ministries or the government's office. Here's what the RGA and the Tax Administration said.

Republic Geodetic Authority

The RGA told us that the following services from the eGovernment portal have been implemented: the Data Exchange System-eZUP, POS terminals, eInspector and the eForeigner (eStranac) service, which enables an electronic registration of residence for foreigners, which was realized in cooperation with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

As they said, the realization of the eTourist service, which uses the address register data, is also in progress.

For any complaints they might have, citizens and business people can use the ePrimedbe service at http://www.rgz.gov.rs/kontakt/info-centar/eprimedbe-na-rad-katastra, and there's also the InfoCenter, whose phone numbers can be found here: http://www.rgz.gov.rs/kontakt/info-centar/kontakt-telefoni-info-centra.

The eZakazivanje appointment scheduling service is also available, at http://www.rgz.gov.rs/kontakt/info-centar/ezakazivanje.

Tax Administration

In 2015, the Tax Administration of the Republic of Serbia initiated a process of reforms which entails a range of institutional, organizational and technological changes. Today, taxpayers can get answers to all their questions and have all kinds of certificates issued, electronically or by using the services of the Contact Center, without having to visit the institution physically, the Tax Administration told eKapija.

– The biggest progress was made by switching to the electronic sphere. Since January 1, 2018, all tax returns can be filed electronically – the Tax Administration says for our portal and adds that the tax administration processes have been considerably upgraded with the implementation of new technologies and the development of electronic systems for filing tax returns and taxpaying in Serbia.

If something malfunctions in the electronic communication, however, landline calls to the Tax Administration's Contact Center can be made from anywhere in Serbia to 0700-700007. The number for calls from mobile phones or abroad is 011 33 10 111. The Contact Center is available from 8 am to 6 pm on working days, the Tax Administration says.

Questions can also be asked at the following link: http://www.poreskauprava.gov.rs/kontakt/kontakt-centar/postavite-pitanje.html.

The eTaxes (ePorezi) portal is a collection of electronic services of the Tax Administration, which enables all taxpayers to meet their obligations electronically.

– Practically, the ePorezi service is now the biggest branch office of the Tax Administration. With ePorezi, it is simple to electronically file all tax returns, have insight into taxpayers' accounts, into the data from the Single Register of Taxpayers and take an overview of the tax returns previously filed electronically – the Tax Administration says.

A special app, also called ePorezi, is used to access these electronic services. It can be downloaded from http://www.poreskauprava.gov.rs/e-porezi/portal.html.

– The implementation of this service upgrades business processes through the use of ICT and considerably saves time and money of taxpayers and employees at the Tax Administration – they point out.

Through the ePorezi portal, taxpayers can fill out and sign all the tax return forms and send them to the Tax Administration. Also, taxpayers can adapt their accountancy software so that it automatically generates a file in a suitable format and then have that file signed electronically and forwarded to the Tax Administration directly, through the ePorezi portal.

All the ePorezi services are free, and the range of services available to taxpayers was expanded on March 2019 with the implementation of the service of electronic issuing of tax certificates.

I. Milovanovic

Poreska uprava Srbije

Republički geodetski zavod Beograd

Ministarstvo finansija Republike Srbije

Ministarstvo građevinarstva, saobraćaja i infrastrukture Republike Srbije

Kancelarija za informacione tehnologije i elektronsku upravu

Data Exchange System

eZUP

POS terminals

eInspektor

eStranac

eTurista

ePorezi

electronic government

complaints