Garantías del debido proceso en el ejercicio de la facultad sancionadora del Servicio de Rentas Internas: la incautación de mercaderías en el Ecuador

Abstract

The Tax Code and the Law for the Reform of Public Finances published in the supplement to Official Gazette No. 181 of April 30th 1999; in its Seventh General Provision regulates tax administrative action, being competent the Internal Revenue Service in the control, seizure, sanction, and social work in the processes of seizure of goods. It must be conceived that the seizure process follows the administrative action that is absolutely regulated, and the acts must adhere to their mandates, and that in public law only what is expressly established by law can be done. Therefore, the official of the sanctioning entity must comply with the legal provisions and guarantee the basic guarantees of due process, since if it is configured and tax infraction is presented, but not complying with the guarantees of due process, the acts issued by the tax administration are null and void. The problem arises from the legal relationship of the state with its taxpayers, for the commission of a tax infraction and sanctioned with the seizure of merchandise; inconvenience that incorporates and develops more rights such as the freedom to work, the right to private property, the right to defense, and above all the other rights that are part of the basic guarantees of due process according to the article 76 of the Constitution of the Republic of Ecuador.