1.3. Staff and budget

For the fulfilment of its mission, the Tax Agency, as of 31 of December 2012, had a staff of 26,962 people, 2.35 per cent less that in 2011, of which 53.25 per cent were women and 46.75 per cent were men, with an average age of 49.14 years (0'63 years more that in 2011).

The staff of Tax Agency is smaller than the average of tax administrations of OECD countries, basing its management on the high specialisation and qualification of the professionals who integrate it and on the intensive use of new technologies.

In 2012, the Tax Agency had a budget of €1,302.8 million. The total expense rose to €1,291.4 million, 6.9 per cent less that in 2011, although this budgetary decrease has not affected the operative capacity of the Tax Agency as the high fulfilment of its objectives has proven.

The distribution by chapters of the obligations recognised is the following:

*Amount in millions of euros

The decrease of staff expenses is a consequence, on the one hand, of the decrease of the staff referred to before and, on the other hand, of the suppression of the second extra pay of civil servants. The reduction of current expenditures is mainly due to saving in notifications and communications -derived from the substitution of the postal notifications for electronic notifications, from the promotion of the RENØ service to obtain the pre-populated tax return over the Internet and from the publication of decrees in the Tax Agency's Electronic Office instead of in the Official State Gazette- as well as due to the saving in lease expenses.

Annexes: