Plenary Sessions
The Plenary is composed of all its members, under the direction of the President and assisted by the Technical Secretary
Nineteenth session - July 6, 2021
MINUTES OF THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE FORUM OF ASSOCIATIONS AND
COLLEGES OF TAX PROFESSIONALS
HELD ON JULY 6, 2021
President of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals
General Director of the State Tax Administration Agency
Mr. Jesús Gascón Catalán
Members representing the Tax Agency
Director of the Tax Management Department
Mr. Gonzalo David García de Castro
Director of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection
Mr. Javier Hurtado Puerta
Director of the Collection Department
Mr. Guillermo Barros Gallego
Director of the Tax IT Department
Mr. José Borja Tomé
Director of the Legal Service
Mr. Diego Loma-Osorio Lerena
Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service
Mrs. Rosa María Prieto del Rey
Special Delegate of Catalonia
Mr. Isidoro García Millán
Deputy Director General of Tax Techniques of the Tax Management Department
Mrs. Mercedes Jordán Valdizán
Deputy Director of Management and Intervention of Excise Taxes of the Department of Customs and Excise Taxes
Mr. Vicente Cillero Martínez
Deputy Director General of Special Procedures of the Collection Department
Mr. Carlos José Dorrego Anta
Members representing Associations and Colleges
Spanish Association of Tax Advisors
President
Ms. Stella Raventós Calvo
Member Responsible for Studies and Research
Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada
Professional Association of Accounting and Tax Experts of Spain
Secretary of the Board of Directors
Mr. José Antonio Fernández García-Moreno
Member of the Board of Directors
Mr. Antonio Ibarra López
General Council of Spanish Lawyers
Vice Dean of the Balearic Bar Association
Mr. Rafael Gil March
General Council of Colleges of Administrative Managers of Spain
Responsible for the Fiscal Area of the General Council
Mrs. Pilar Otero Moar
General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain
Member of the Fiscal Affairs Commission
Mr. José Castaño Semitiel
Member of the Fiscal Affairs Commission
Mr. José Ruiz Sánchez
Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors
Chairperson
Mr. Joan Torres Torres
Second Vice President
Mr. Adolfo Jiménez Ramírez
Registry of Tax Advisory Economists
Chairperson
Mr. Agustín Fernández Pérez
Member of the Board of Directors
Mr. Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto
Technical Secretariat of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals
Deputy Director General of External Communication of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service
Mrs. Mª Dolores Carreño Beltrán
On July 6, 2021, the nineteenth plenary meeting of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals will be held by videoconference, attended by the aforementioned people, and in accordance with the following
AGENDA
- Opening by the General Director of the State Tax Administration Agency.
- Approval of the minutes of the session held on November 24, 2020.
- Planning and accountability of the Tax Agency.
- Information on the topics discussed in the working groups.
- Group of experts for tax reform.
- New Headquarters of the Tax Agency.
- Other considerations, requests and questions.
1. Opening by the General Director of the State Tax Administration Agency
The session opens with Mr. Jesús Gascón Catalán, General Director of the State Tax Administration Agency and President of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals, who, after welcoming and thanking everyone present for their attendance, comments that, finally , it seems that the COVID 19 contagion data are evolving favorably, although prudence advises continuing to apply health prevention and protection measures. Thus, he adds that it has not been considered appropriate to change the videoconference format with which the meetings have been held since the beginning of the pandemic, which, on the other hand, is allowing them to be held at a quite acceptable level. On the other hand, the Director General continues by indicating that the Forum's working groups met during the first semester on two occasions, on March 4 and June 3, and that point 4 of the agenda will present the issues most relevant that were discussed in the meetings.
2. Approval of the minutes of the session held on November 24, 2020
Mr. Jesús Gascón gives the floor to Ms. Mª Dolores Carreño Beltrán, Deputy Director General of External Communication of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service and Technical Secretary of this Forum, who states that the minutes of the eighteenth session of the plenary session were sent to the Associations and Colleges prior to this meeting and that no observations had been received. Addressing the attendees, he asks if anyone wants to make any objections. Since none is formulated, it declares the minutes of the 18th plenary session that took place on November 24, 2020 approved and indicates that it will be published on the Tax Agency website, in the space reserved for this Forum.
3. Planning and accountability of the Tax Agency
Mr. Jesús Gascón begins his presentation by commenting that he is going to use a presentation in power point sobre los instrumentos de la Agencia Tributaria en planificación y rendición de cuentas. Señala que, en esta materia, la Agencia Tributaria está realizando un esfuerzo de transparencia, remitiendo sus informes al Parlamento y compartiéndolos con las comunidades autónomas, así como a través de su publicación en el portal de la transparencia y en la propia página web. Añade que, además, también se están compartiendo en todos los foros colaborativos en los que participa la Agencia Tributaria, y ello con el doble objetivo de, por un lado, dar a conocer la organización y, por otro, favorecer la recepción de comentarios y sugerencias, que siempre son una gran ayuda para mejorar. Así, indica que en este punto del orden del día va a realizar un resumen de los aspectos más destacados de los siguientes documentos: la adenda del Plan Estratégico de la Agencia Tributaria; las directrices generales del Plan Anual de Control Tributario y Aduanero de 2021 que fueron publicadas en el BOE del pasado 1 de febrero; el Plan de Objetivos 2021; el Componente 27 del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia relativo a la prevención y lucha contra el fraude fiscal; la evaluación TADAT (Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool), promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to which the Tax Agency has submitted and which allows knowing the degree of alignment of an Administration in relation to the considered best international practices; and, finally, two reports prepared by the Internal Audit Service (SAI) in compliance with Law 19/2013, of December 9, on transparency, access to public information and good governance, referring, respectively, to the evolution of the multi-annual indicators of the Strategic Plan and the degree of compliance with the objectives in 2020.
Next, Mr. Jesús Gascón briefly develops the aforementioned documents:
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Addendum for 2021 to the Agency's Strategic Plan: The Plan was published for general knowledge in 2020 and, despite the exceptional situation of recent months, well known to everyone, it remains valid, although, in order to adjust it to the new circumstances facing the organization , an addendum has been approved, of which the following lines of work can be highlighted:
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New projects in the area of economic management:
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Homogenization of public procurement specifications, as well as development of an ethical code in this matter, which complements the principles of the ethical code of the organization as a whole.
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Analysis of the current financing system: The Tax Agency has a series of particularities in this area that it does not share with other Administration bodies. Thus, it starts from an initial budget that increases through generations of credit based on the increase in income derived from the control actions carried out. The review process is complex and the final decision on possible improvements in the financing model transcends the Tax Agency itself, since it affects the general budget of the State.
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Technical assistance to the General Directorate of Taxes (DGT) and the Central Economic Administrative Court (TEAC): This action consists of the integration of these two organizations, so important for the application of the tax system, in the technological infrastructure of the Tax Agency, whose maintenance and development will be handled by the Tax IT Department. Among the objectives of this project the following can be highlighted:
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Reduction of response times to tax queries by the General Directorate of Taxes.
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Expedite the processing of files from the Economic-Administrative Courts, with the consequent reduction of pending matters. This project is complemented by the transfer of personnel that has been carried out in recent years by the Tax Agency.
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Information and assistance actions for taxpayers:
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Improvement and simplification of the procedure for rectification of self-assessments, both in the presentation of a request for correction and in its subsequent management: The current processing of this type of procedure is more similar to that of appeals or claims than to that of declarations. On the other hand, in a generalized system of self-assessments, requests for rectification are increasingly numerous. For example, in 2019 the rectifications derived from the exemption of maternity/paternity benefits declared by the Supreme Court were more than one million, and, for its part, the declaration of unconstitutionality of Royal Decree-Law 2/2016 that affected The fractional payments of the Corporate Tax also meant that a very significant number of rectifications were achieved in 2020. Thus, the Tax Agency considers that the streamlining of this procedure is essential and is studying its problems, since it is a legally complex issue since it will require regulatory changes.
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Improvement of information and assistance services in the area of collection, both by telephone and through the use of the app .
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Prevention actions:
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Use of new technologies in the implementation of a predictive system for errors in completing the declaration, based on the experience of previous years, in which errors were repeatedly observed in certain items: It has been launched in the last Personal Income Tax campaign. Thus, through notices and pop-up messages, the taxpayer is notified of the possibility of making a mistake if they continue with the modification they are making. As it is a self-assessment system, the taxpayer may ignore the notice. Given that the personal income tax campaign has just ended, it is early to make an assessment, but it is expected that fewer incidents will be detected in the subsequent control phase.
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Systematic exploitation of the information from the Single Notarial Index (IUN): In February 2020, an Agreement for the provision of information was signed with the General Council of Notaries.
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Implementation of a standardized query channel through the electronic headquarters of the Tax Agency for Associations and Colleges adhering to the Code of Good Practices.
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Implementation of the Tax on Financial Transactions and the Tax on Certain Digital Services.
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Tax and customs fraud control actions:
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Definitive implementation of the virtual visit system (VIVI): began testing in 2019 in the inspection area, the situation caused by the health crisis has contributed to its development. Thus, it constitutes a complementary relationship channel, characterized by its voluntariness. At first it was used for proceedings, with more than 3,000 having already been signed. As for the minutes signed, given that they are acts of greater relevance and that, in addition, they began later, the number is still small.
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Improvement of the feedback system for the information obtained on the reasons for regularization of verification actions, in order to evaluate the adequacy of the regularization carried out with the reasons for selecting the taxpayers to be inspected.
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Regulatory development and application of strategies to eradicate sales suppression or dual-use software, provided for in the Law on Measures to Prevent and Fight Tax Fraud.
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E-commerce: The changes in this area are significant, with very important cases, which will require a great effort to adapt, both on the part of the taxpayers who carry out this type of operations, and on the part of the Tax Administration, which will have to manage and control the entire regulatory package.
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Nationalization of certain powers, such as customs clearance: Currently, document management is carried out by digital means, which allows documentary controls to be relocated in order to achieve greater efficiency in an area in which streamlining is a transcendental value to promote foreign trade.
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General guidelines of the 2021 Annual Tax and Customs Control Plan: published in the BOE on February 1 are well known by everyone present.
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2021 Goal Plan: Its purpose is to numerically reflect the activities planned by the Tax Agency, using, given their plurality, different magnitudes for their measurement (number of actions, percentages, days, etc.). The Plan is structured in three blocks:
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Taxpayer assistance actions: It includes very diverse indicators, such as web assistance or the streamlining of procedures. As an example, the following objectives can be cited:
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users of the app of the Tax Agency: 2,000,000;
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Average waiting time for phone calls: 115 seconds;
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average resource processing time: 30 days.
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Actions to prevent tax and customs fraud:
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Census: of the potential taxpayer census, the objective is to carry out some type of action on 70% of it.
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Quality of international information: This matter is of great importance for Tax Administrations, since in recent times the exchange of information between countries has grown exponentially. However, its usefulness depends on the country of origin, with those coming from the European Union being greater than those originating in other parts of the world. Thus, in order to carry out systematic exploitation of the data, it is necessary that they have such a level of quality that allows their incorporation into the information systems of each country, that is, that the information can be assigned to a specific taxpayer. In the case of the Tax Agency, the objective established for 2021 is that 85% of the information received, after the corresponding purification has been carried out, is incorporated into its information systems. With the rest of the information, there is no choice but to contact the country of origin to try to correct the problems detected that could not be corrected. Thus, this is an ongoing work process for the international community and it will take time to reach a value close to 100%.
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In the area of Customs and Special Taxes, taking the customs clearance indicator as an example, the objective that is planned to be carried out during 2021 is 819,726 actions, taking into account the evolution of imports and exports.
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Civic-tax education: measures the number of hours of training in schools and institutes in this subject. It has no reference in 2021 since the health situation is not conducive to in-person activities. The objective of the program is to transmit a certain civic and tax culture, so that children and young people become familiar with the meaning of taxes, which are, basically, the source of financing for the state as a whole, including city councils and autonomous communities, with which public services are paid for.
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Tax and customs fraud control actions: The Objective Plan includes the number of nominal actions planned in each of the following areas:
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Control of internal taxes: differentiates, in turn, the following types:
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Checking: distinguishing between those aimed at large companies, multinationals and tax groups, those for asset and corporate analysis, those for controlling the concealment of activity and abuse of corporate forms, those for economic activities and those for controlling the application of regulations. Likewise, it groups the actions according to the body that carries them out: inspection, Large Business Management Units and tax management.
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Other checks: It includes those for tax refunds and benefits, the formal ones and those for information analysis.
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Other actions: includes requirements, reports, complaints and analysis of taxpayers.
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Research actions: difference between those initiated ex officio by the Tax Agency and those initiated by judicial assistance. In the latter case, an “objective” is not included, but rather a reference, since the actions are carried out at the request of the jurisdictional bodies and the Prosecutor's Office.
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Customs Control, Special and Environmental Taxes: includes the number of verification actions that are planned to be carried out during the year, including those in the customs surveillance area.
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Collection control: Two indicators are established, collection control actions and collection investigation actions. The latter have a more selective nature and hence their number is not very high.
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Debt collection management: In this case, the objective is quantified by its amount.
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Component 27 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan related to the prevention and fight against tax fraud: The package of measures sent by the Spanish government to the European Commission contains 30 components, of which 27 is specifically referred to the scope of action of the Tax Agency, although components 28 and 29 also have a certain relationship. Component 28 includes, among other measures, the creation of a Committee of Experts for tax reform, already in operation, which will deliver its report in February 2022; For its part, component 29, related to the improvement of public spending, incorporates the evaluation of the spending review, which is being carried out by the Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF), as an important instrument for designing future fiscal policy. On the other hand, regarding component 27, the measures it contains are already included in the planning instruments of the Tax Agency, although, by including them in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, they acquire the status of Government commitments. Spanish, linked to obtaining the new European financing instruments. Thus, the following measures can be highlighted:
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Law on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud: It is scheduled to be published in the BOE throughout the week.
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Modernization of the Tax Agency: includes the following lines of action:
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Increase in the workforce in order to recover the personnel that have been lost in the last 10 years and to promote their rejuvenation, since currently the average age exceeds 50 years.
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Investments in technological means that promote the computer modernization of tax management.
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Investments to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, so that they comply with environmental standards.
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Prioritize the fight against the underground economy: has its correlation in the 2021 Objectives Plan with the actions planned in the control area referring to the patrimonial and corporate analysis and the control of the concealment of activity and abuse of corporate forms, which are those that have a greater connection with the tax gap .
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Strengthening taxpayer assistance: It constitutes one of the fundamental axes of the Strategic Plan of the Tax Agency 2020-2023 and the following actions can be cited:
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Implementation of Comprehensive Digital Assistance Administrations (ADI) aimed at providing information and assistance services by electronic means using non-face-to-face channels: in the Tax Agency they have been configured as a complement to the face-to-face attention provided in the offices, the maintenance of which is considered essential. The ADI are more aimed at new generations and the strategy is for them to provide an increasingly comprehensive service, as technological advances allow it.
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Improvement of the tax data that is transferred to taxpayers within the framework of the Corporate Tax: In this campaign, in addition, automatic incorporation through WEB Companies will be possible.
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Advance in the help service for completing form 303 (Pre303).
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In personal income tax, improve the automatic import of data recorded in record books.
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Improvement of the system for exploiting information from international sources.
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Promotion of the cooperative model, which includes:
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Advance the development of the cooperative relationship with taxpayers: The Tax Agency has provided the European Commission with the number of transparency reports submitted by large companies adhering to the Code of Good Tax Practices as a monitoring indicator for this initiative.
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Continue the assistance provided to judges and courts in the fight against the underground economy and the fiscal gap: This measure shows that the fight against tax fraud is not only an administrative activity, but that it is sometimes necessary to prosecute the most reprehensible cases of tax fraud.
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TADAT Assessment (Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool): The Tax Agency has undergone this diagnostic tool that, promoted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), evaluates the performance of a tax administration in relation to the considered best international practices. However, divergence does not always mean that something is being done wrong; It may simply be that a different model has been adopted. Precisely, the interesting thing about this methodology is that it allows us to detect what is being done in a different way, promoting a reflection on whether there are reasons that justify it. Thus, the following can be highlighted from the results report:
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In most of the areas evaluated there is a high degree of alignment with good international practices, such as, for example, in taxpayer information and assistance, censuses, tax control, etc.
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There are areas in which the qualifications obtained reveal the need to reflect and work in order to overcome weaknesses in some aspects thereof. As examples the following can be cited:
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The evolution of the underground economy is not analyzed in a systematic way. The evolution of the fiscal gap is only analyzed in VAT , within the framework of a European Union initiative, but not in direct taxes.
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11% of appeals are resolved within a longer period than the reference period.
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The accounting imputation of tax payments is carried out biweekly, which differs from the procedure used by most countries, in which the imputation occurs immediately. However, this matter affects budget accounting, which is why it exceeds the scope of action of the Tax Agency.
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Less than 70% of VAT refunds are made in 30 days, although in the case of the Immediate Information Supply system (SII) and the Monthly VAT Refund Regime (REDEME), the period is less than the reference value .
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Existence of a certain delay in the publication of plans and programs, although this “weakness” is being corrected not only in relation to publication, but, in an effort of transparency, by disseminating them in areas such as this Forum.
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Report prepared by the Internal Audit Service (SAI) referring to the evolution of the multi-annual indicators of the Strategic Plan of the Tax Agency 2020-2023:
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Evolution of voluntary compliance: Comparing the evolution of the aggregate tax bases of the different taxes with that of nominal domestic demand, until 2019 the former were growing to a greater extent than the latter. For example, in 2019 tax bases grew by 3.9%, while domestic demand only grew by 2.9%, confirming the trend of the last 4 years. For its part, in 2020 there has been a 7.9% drop in aggregate tax bases compared to the previous year, although this is lower than that suffered by domestic demand (10.7%) or Nominal GDP ##1##(9.9%). Thus, it can be concluded that the behavior of voluntary compliance over the last 5 years has been positive, even in a year as atypical as 2020, given that also in this year the fiscal magnitudes have behaved in a more favorable way than the macroeconomic ones. .
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Effects induced in voluntary compliance by the actions of the Tax Agency: Comparing the evolution of the amounts of self-assessments submitted by taxpayers in the three years following an inspection verification in relation to the three previous years, it can be seen that, for example, taxpayers inspected in 2017 have declared 30.3%. more, while the increase in taxpayers as a whole has been 17.8%. These data allow us to conclude that the effects of an inspection do not end at the moment in which the regularization or collection of its amount occurs, but are projected over time, inducing the taxpayer to better fiscal behavior. Thus, the Tax Agency is studying the possibility of extending this type of analysis to the effects induced in the behavior of the personal, family, corporate environment of the inspected taxpayer and even in the economic sector, but, currently, it is highly complex. . On the other hand, it should be noted that the companies and groups assigned to the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers have been excluded from the measurement, since they present a great variability of results between years due to internationalization and business restructuring, which makes it difficult for comparisons. between exercises are homogeneous.
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Evolution of the calculation base: This indicator reflects the results of the control activities of the Tax Agency, without these should be understood as actions aimed exclusively at the fight against tax fraud. Thus, the calculation base for recent years remains in a stable environment, with a slight increase in 2020 due, basically, to the increase in the reduction of returns. If the extraordinary results are excluded from the calculation, which in 2020 were motivated, fundamentally, by the declaration of unconstitutionality of Royal Decree Law 2/2016, of September 30, in relation to the fractional payment of Corporate Tax, the amount of the calculation base is around 8,500 million euros. These data for the Tax Agency are positive, since, putting them in relation to the first indicator, the improvement of voluntary compliance, the main axis of a modern tax Administration, the logical thing is that by increasing the latter, control actions will also decrease.
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Improve efficiency: This index is calculated by dividing, for a specific year, the budgetary cost of the Tax Agency by the taxes it manages. In 2020 the ratio has worsened compared to the previous year, standing at 0.77%, due to the significant drop in collection. However, the current rebound in tax collection, together with the fact that the organization's budget is going to remain stable, allows us to hope that a ratio of 0.7% will be recovered again, which is what the tax administrations in our environment present. considered more efficient.
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Debt charge: of the net manageable debt in executive, 30,569 million euros, in 2020 90%, 27,498 million euros, have been managed, when the planned objective in such a complicated year was 80%. However, despite the good data, we will have to wait to see if the trend consolidates. On the other hand, to carry out a proper analysis of the evolution of the debt, it is convenient to point out that around 5,000 million euros are paralyzed by bankruptcy proceedings and around 12,000 by appeal or claim. In relation to the debt suspended due to bankruptcy proceedings, this has been decreasing in recent years, but, given the special circumstances of 2020, it is expected that there will be a rebound. For its part, the amount of debt suspended by appeal or claim in 2020 has been somewhat lower than in 2019, although we will also have to wait to see if the trend is consolidated. Furthermore, it should be noted that around 40% of the suspended debt is older than 5 years, hence the effort being made by the Tax Agency to support the economic-administrative courts with material and human resources, so that the Resolution deadlines for appeals and claims are expedited.
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Litigation: This indicator aims to evaluate the behavior of two magnitudes. On the one hand, it measures the evolution of relative conflict, which in 2020 represented a percentage of 1.72, very similar to the previous year. In the case of economic administrative claims (REA), the percentage was 0.7 which, in absolute terms, translates into 132,000 REA presented, a figure lower than in previous years and which is justified by the lower number of acts issued by the Tax Agency as a consequence of the health crisis. On the other hand, the second magnitude that this indicator evaluates is the evolution of the number of resolutions that partially or totally are contrary to the Administration's criteria. In 2020, this percentage was 37% in the case of REA and 38% in the case of contentious-administrative appeals, although, in relative terms, it should be noted that of the total acts dictated by the Tax Agency and that are claimable, only 0.29% are finally annulled by the courts, either in the economic-administrative way (0.27%) or in the contentious-administrative way (0.02%). In any case, given the diversity of functions performed by the Tax Agency, the percentages of annulment of the issued acts vary according to the nature of the different acts subject to appeal, there being areas where litigation is minimal, such as in census matters. or collection. Thus, in the case of management settlements and sanctions imposed by management bodies, the percentage reaches, respectively, 1.29% and 0.87%. For its part, in the case of inspection actions the percentage of cancellations stands at 4.48% and, in the case of non-conformity reports, at 18.90%, although the latter have little significant weight. in the total number of signed minutes. Finally, it should be noted that the data for this indicator are not presented in amounts due to the bias that extraordinary results could introduce in the comparison of years.
- Late interest paid: Its origin has various causes, such as the cancellations of administrative acts, delays in the management of refunds, the request for undue income made by the taxpayer, etc. Thus, the evolution of this indicator in recent years presents a stable trend, at just over 200 million euros, although it must be taken into account that those derived from extraordinary results have been eliminated from this amount. On the other hand, taking 2014 as the reference year, if we compare the evolution of the amounts to be returned derived from the presentation of self-assessments and the interest rate with that of the interest paid, it can be seen that, despite the fact that The amount requested to be returned has increased by 23%, the late payment interest paid has decreased by around 40%, although the interest rate has decreased by 25%.
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Report prepared by the Internal Audit Service (SAI) regarding the degree of compliance with the objectives in 2020: Mr. Jesús Gascón indicates that the report first points out how atypical the year 2020 has been and the impact of the health crisis on the activity of the Tax Agency, with the closure of offices, suspension of procedure deadlines, etc. . It is added that, in this context and given the existing uncertainty regarding the evolution of the pandemic, the Tax Agency Directorate decided to reduce the references to be met in most of the indicators. Thus, the report states that, as of June 1, 2020, the notifications issued had been reduced by 46.3% compared to the same period of the previous year. However, it also points out that the gradual recovery of activity allowed many of the indicators to reach high levels of compliance, although it was decided not to review the references again. In any case, it is noted that in 2020 there has been a drop in actions compared to 2019. In the aforementioned case, the notifications issued by the Tax Agency fell by 9.5%, although it is true that in 2019 more than two million notifications were issued in relation to the exemption from maternity benefit, which, if removed from the calculation, they would make the drop 5%. On the other hand, by area the variations have been different:
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In the extensive control procedures, the number of actions has been maintained, without prejudice to the fact that some, such as those for the control of economic activities, have been reduced by 2.4% in the year-on-year comparison.
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In inspection actions the decrease has been 5.7% compared to the previous year.
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In the area of Customs and Excise Taxes the drop has been 8%, since there was a significant decrease in imports and exports.
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In the Collection area, the drop has been 11% due to the weight in this indicator of the appearance actions, which were drastically reduced.
Likewise, Mr. Jesús Gascón points out that the report states that in 2020, most of the indicators had a level of compliance greater than 100%. He adds that, however, in the following cases this has not been the case:
- In the use of some virtual assistants, where VAT has acquired a hegemonic role to the detriment of other services
on line . - In the percentage of calls answered, due to the increase in demand caused by the closure of the offices, which, at first, could not be answered, although little by little the situation normalized.
- In the field of internal tax control, in judicial assistance, due to the lower demand for this type of actions received from judicial bodies.
- In collection management actions, due to the difficulties in carrying out certain activities, such as registration.
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To conclude his presentation, Mr. Jesús Gascón reiterates that the Tax Agency is making an effort in transparency and that, in case anyone wishes to consult them in more detail, the documents to which he has referred have been published on the transparency portal and on the Tax Agency website. Likewise, it points out that the planning instruments are susceptible to modification according to needs and, in that sense, invites those present to, through the Technical Secretariat of the Forum, send the observations and proposals for improvement that they consider appropriate, since They are of great help in the review processes.
It then gives way to the next item on the agenda.
4. Information on the topics discussed in the working groups
Next, the General Director of the Tax Agency gives way to the fourth point on the agenda and gives the floor to Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro, Director of the Tax Management Department.
Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro, after greeting those present, points out that he is going to briefly refer to the issues discussed in the working groups and to some new topic, from the point of view of attendance, subsequent to them. Thus, it highlights the following issues:
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Tax on Financial Transactions and Tax on Certain Digital Services: After the approval of the regulations and ministerial orders that develop the declaration models, the first presentations have already been made: in the case of model 604, in the month of June, and in the case of model 490, they are being produced in the month of July. A section has been published on the Tax Agency's website where information on the two new tax figures is kept up to date in order to facilitate their application by taxpayers and disseminate the Administration's opinion on such new taxes.
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Information statements on certain cross-border tax planning mechanisms (DAC 6): Its regulations and the ministerial order that develops the models (234, 235 and 236) have also been approved. Likewise, the information on these declarations is permanently updated on the Tax Agency's website.
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Corporate Tax Campaign 2020: It is reiterated that one of the fundamental objectives of the organization is to promote voluntary compliance. Thus, in the Corporate Tax, the model started in the IRPF more than twenty years ago is being followed, since the transfer of data prior to the presentation of the declaration has proven to be a very useful instrument of assistance to the taxpayer in improving voluntary compliance. In this sense, the Tax Agency is making an effort to improve the quality of the information offered to taxpayers in the Corporate Tax, coming from the data declared by themselves and by third parties. Likewise, it is worth highlighting as a novelty of this campaign the automatic transfer to the declaration through WEB Companies of the imputations of income declared in form 347 and in the Immediate Information Supply system (SII).
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VAT help services: Since January 2021, Pre303 automatically incorporates census data into the declaration, data from the aggregated books (LLAA), if they exist, information from the Tax Agency, such as import VAT, and amounts from previous declarations. Regarding the census data, a utility has been included that, from the 303 model itself, can be accessed and modified, which represents a simplification of bureaucratic procedures for the taxpayer, while facilitating a permanent updating census information on a tax as complex as VAT. On the other hand, the Tax Agency continues with the development of VAT tools and virtual assistants. For its part, the locator for deliveries of goods and services is in its eighth version, since the regulatory changes in this matter have been very intense in recent years, especially in terms of community law. Thus, on July 1, new rules regarding electronic commerce came into force and, since that same day, the localization tool is available on the Tax Agency's website, as well as an information section where you can consult the explanatory notes prepared by the European Commission, as well as support documentation that includes the opinion of the Tax Agency in the application of the rules in this matter. In this sense, Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro requests the collaboration of those present to communicate to the Tax Agency any incident they detect in the use of the tool or any doubts that may arise, since the matter is highly complex and affects many taxpayers, given the current context of economic globalization.
- Finally, the Director of the Tax Management Department reminds those present that virtual assistants are fully integrated with other assistance services such as chats with specialists from the ADI and INFORMA+, where a written response can be obtained, which results in greater legal certainty.
Mr. Jesús Gascón thanks Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro for his intervention and gives the floor to Mr. Javier Hurtado Puerta, Director of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection, to comment on the issues discussed in the meetings of the corresponding working groups. within the scope of your Department.
Mr. Javier Hurtado begins his intervention by pointing out that the Forum's working groups have held two joint virtual meetings during the first half of 2021, on March 4 and June 3, and that he will briefly refer to their content. , highlighting the following issues:
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Note on full regularization in the case of VAT: It is published on the organization's website, in compliance with the commitment to transparency assumed by the Tax Agency regarding the dissemination of the criteria it uses in the application of the tax system. It includes current jurisprudence and is based on requiring administrative regularization actions to have this character of integrity, preventing, for example, the deduction of input VAT that was unduly passed on by a third party, without having previously regularized the latter's situation.
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Resolution of the Central Economic Administrative Court, of October 21, 2020, in relation to the VAT tax base and discounts on car sales that are borne by the financial entity that grants the financing: concludes that the discount, to the extent that it is paid to the car seller by a third party, forms part of the VAT tax base for the delivery of the vehicle.
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Ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union of January 20, 2021, regarding the transfer of cars to employees for their private use: establishes that, since there is no consideration, it is not an operation subject to VAT. However, at the meeting it was clarified by the representative of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection that the ruling did not affect the principle of self-consumption that involves the acquisition and subsequent internal use of the vehicle by the company.
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Supreme Court ruling of February 8, 2021, referring to the deductibility of late payment interest in Corporate Tax: declares that they do not have a character contrary to the legal system and that, therefore, they are deductible in Corporate Tax. At the meeting, the difficult reconciliation of this ruling with another, also from the Supreme Court, of December 3, 2020, was revealed, in which it is established that the late payment interests paid by the Administration in favor of the taxpayer are not included in the tax base of personal income tax, arguing, precisely, the fact that they are not a deductible expense in Corporate Tax.
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Ruling of the National Court of December 11, 2020, regarding the compensation of negative tax bases (BIN): allows the compensation of negative tax bases in a request for rectification of a self-assessment. At the meeting it was reported that this ruling is contrary to the doctrine of the Central Economic Administrative Court which has been establishing that the use of a rectification of self-assessments to correct tax options, among which is the option for compensation of BIN , is not admissible because it was made after the deadline. Likewise, it was reported that the Administration had filed an appeal for cassation so that the Supreme Court could rule on which doctrine should be applied.
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Law on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud: It has already been approved by Congress and its publication in the BOE is expected shortly. At the meeting on June 3, the following issues were addressed:
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Partially retroactive effect of certain modifications in the regulations, with favorable effects for the taxpayer:
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Surcharge for late filing of declaration or self-assessment (article 27 of the General Tax Law): It consists of 1% plus another additional 1% for each full month of delay with which it is submitted, with respect to the end of the period established for presentation and payment. If the presentation is made after 12 months have elapsed from the end of the period established for presentation, the surcharge is 15% and late payment interest begins to accrue. This new regime applies to all those surcharges that are not final on the date of entry into force of the Law. On the other hand, such surcharges will not be required if the taxpayer regularizes, by submitting a declaration or self-assessment corresponding to other periods of the same tax concept, facts identical to those regularized by the Administration, provided that the latter have not given rise to the imposition of sanctions and the rest of the requirements established in the Law are met.
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Reduction of the sanctions of article 188 of the General Tax Law: The reduction provided for prompt payment and failure to file an appeal or claim goes from 25 to 40% and applies to sanctions agreed before the entry into force of the Law that have not become final and that have not been appealed. In the latter case, the new reduction will also be applied if the interested party withdraws from the appeal or claim filed against the sanction and, where appropriate, against the settlement from which it derives, before January 1, 2022 and pays the remaining amount. of the sanction in the voluntary entry period opened with notification, after proof of withdrawal.
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Limitation of cash payments: The general limit is reduced from 2,500 to 1,000 euros when one of the parties acts as a businessman or professional. Likewise, the sanctioning regime is modified in order to adapt it to Law 39/2015, of October 1, on the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations, and Law 40/2015, of October 1, on the Legal Regime of the Public Sector , establishing a 50% reduction, as long as the penalty is paid prior to notification of the final resolution. In this sense, the new reduction in the penalty for voluntary payment applies to sanctions required before the entry into force of the Law that have not become final and that have not been appealed. However, in the latter case, the interested party may benefit from the 50% reduction if they withdraw the appeal filed against the sanction before January 1, 2022 and pay the remaining amount. On the other hand, the new regulations apply to all payments made after the entry into force of the Law, even if they refer to operations agreed upon prior to the establishment of the new limitation.
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Succession agreements: This issue has been raised by several associations in working group meetings. The Law, finally, clarifies how it will apply to succession agreements signed prior to the entry into force of the rule, establishing a transitional regime for the transfers of assets acquired for profit through this mechanism carried out prior to the entry into force. of the law.
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Cryptocurrencies: Binding consultation 999/2018 of the General Directorate of Taxes has clarified that capital gains are calculated by the difference between the transfer value and the acquisition value and that their result is integrated into the savings tax base. Likewise, the valuation on the last day of the year will be included in the Wealth Tax declaration. However, the association that proposed the inclusion of this matter on the agenda of the working group meeting stated that there was a need for a regulatory development of the same, since the advance of this form of investment was increasingly having greater public acceptance and many problems were appearing when it came to declaring capital gains and losses. For its part, the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection made an offer to Mr. Antonio Ibarra to participate as a speaker in a course on this very new topic, where he would explain the problems he was encountering. Likewise, Mr. Javier Hurtado comments that this course is already being prepared by his Department and invites those present to participate.
Finally, in relation to this point, the meeting was informed that, once the Law was in force, the Tax Agency planned to publish on its website a series of explanatory notes in format faq, in relation to the application of new regulations.
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Supreme Court ruling of 03/23/2021: establishes that the verification of compliance with the requirements required for the application of the special tax regimes included in section “e)” of article 141 of the General Tax Law is the responsibility of the inspection bodies and that it cannot be carried out in the course of a limited verification carried out by the tax management bodies. The meeting was informed that, given that the number of special regimes in VAT, Personal Income Tax and IS was high and there was a very varied casuistry, they would be studied on a case-by-case basis. For their part, the associations proposed extending the Supreme Court ruling to all sections of article 141, to which the Tax Agency responded that the ruling had to be framed in the case it was resolving and, therefore, it was It would literally comply with its content, which was only referred to point e) of article 141.
Next, Mr. Jesús Gascón thanks Mr. Javier Hurtado Puerta for his intervention and offers the floor to the attendees in case they wish to make any comments.
Firstly, Mr. Joan Torres Torres, representative of the Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors (FETTAF), intervenes, asking if after the entry into force of the Law on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud , the new wording of article 23.2 would apply to non-prescribed exercises or if these would be governed by the Supreme Court ruling of October 15, 2020. He adds that he has already made this query in writing previously.
Mr. Javier Hurtado answers that this is a controversial issue, but that the prudent interpretation of the regulatory modification is that it will be applied from the entry into force of the regulation.
Mr. Joan Torres intervenes again to ask, in relation to another query that he has also made on previous occasions regarding the succession agreements signed prior to the entry into force of the Law, if the same also applies to them, that is, if These will be affected by the new regulations that provide that if the beneficiary transfers the property before the expiration of 5 years from the conclusion of the succession agreement or the death of the deceased, if earlier, he or she is subrogated to the latter's position, with respect to the value and date of acquisition of said asset, when this was lower than what would have resulted from the application of the Inheritance Tax rules.
Mr. Javier Hurtado responded that, precisely, the issue of succession agreements has been subject to amendment in the Senate, and that, as he had read so many versions of the bill, at this moment he did not remember how this matter had finally been drafted. .
Mr. Rafael Gil March, representative of the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, takes the floor and comments that he had also raised the issue previously and that if, finally, the latest version is published, it states that it will be applied to the agreements signed prior to the entry into force of the Law and that in those cases in which the transfer of the property is carried out before 5 years have elapsed since they were signed or before the death of the deceased, if this fact were earlier , the beneficiary is subrogated to his position, with respect to the value and date of acquisition of said asset, when this is lower than what would have resulted from the application of the Inheritance Tax rules. That is to say, it will have a certain retroactive nature in the sense that it will affect the elements transmitted after the entry into force of the Law, even if they derive from succession agreements signed before the entry into force.
Mr. Joan Torres comments that we will have to wait for the publication of the Law and that, in his opinion, the retroactive effects are very dangerous.
Mr. Jesús Gascón then gives the floor to Mr. Antonio Ibarra López, representative of the Professional Association of Accounting and Tax Experts of Spain (AECE), who thanks the proposal to organize a course on the taxation of cryptocurrencies, as well as the personal invitation to participate as a speaker, which will allow you to contribute the AECE's vision on this matter.
Since there are no more interventions, the Director General of the Tax Agency gives way to the next item on the agenda.
5. Group of experts for tax reform
Mr. Jesús Gascón informs that, in relation to the recently established Committee of experts for tax reform, both Ms. Inés Bardón Rafael, Secretary of State for Finance, and Mr. Jesús Ruiz-Huerta Carbonell, president of the Committee, have asked him to inform this Forum that, on the website of the Institute of Fiscal Studies, there is a link through which anyone who wishes can send their observations and proposals to the Committee. This link will be available until July 15. He adds that the Tax Agency is in permanent contact with the group of experts, providing support in everything they need, which, normally, tends to be statistics and macroeconomic studies on the impact of the different measures they are considering, but also sending them practical problems in the application of the tax system. Likewise, the Director General notes that the committee has committed to submit its report in February 2022. To conclude with this point, Mr. Jesús Gascón informs those present that, if they wish to send their proposals through the Technical Secretariat of this Forum, there is no problem on the part of the Tax Agency.
6. New Headquarters of the Tax Agency
The General Director of the Tax Agency gives way to the sixth point on the agenda and gives the floor to Ms. Rosa María Prieto del Rey, Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service, who informs those present that the Tax Agency has been working on the creation of a new website that, foreseeably, will be operational in mid-July and that will integrate the current Portal of the Tax Agency and its electronic Headquarters. He adds that the new website will represent an advance in usability, since it focuses on the taxpayer's point of view, so that on the same page they can carry out their procedures and find the information available on the matter, while at the same time It makes navigation easier and allows you to carry out your procedures in a more intuitive and agile way. Likewise, it indicates that, initially and for a period of approximately three months, to facilitate the transition, a link to the new headquarters will be offered from the current pages and that, after this period, the terms will be reversed and from The new website will offer a link to the current ones, with plans to maintain coexistence until the end of the year, at which time only the new electronic headquarters will be operational. Finally, Ms. Rosa María Prieto requests that those present during the transitional period send to the Technical Secretariat any incident or omission that they detect, as well as the aspects that, where appropriate, they consider could be improved, in order to proceed with their assessment and, if possible, modification.
Next, Mr. Jesús Gascón thanks Ms. Rosa María Prieto for her presentation and gives way to the next item on the agenda.
7. Other considerations, requests and questions
The President of the Forum offers the floor to the attendees in case they wish to make any comments.
Firstly, Ms. Stella Raventós Calvo, representative of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF), intervenes, who, after thanking the explanations made by the representatives of the Tax Agency during the plenary session, points out that the AEDAF wishes to mention two issues, a first considered of greater importance and another, to which Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada will later refer, in relation to a series of practical cases that are causing no small amount of concern in the group they represent. Thus, in relation to the first question, Ms. Stella Raventós informs, so that the General Director of the Tax Agency has prior knowledge, that, at the end of this meeting of the Plenary of the Forum, the AEDAF is going to present complaints/claims before the Ombudsman, the Taxpayer Defense Council and the Transparency and Good Governance Council in relation to the following:
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That taxpayers (today called taxpayers) have, among their increasingly numerous burdens, the duty to present to the Tax Administrations in general and, to the Tax Agency ( AEAT ), in In particular, very diverse forms (generally known as “models”), both in the nature of self-assessments (in the sense expressly provided for in article 120 of Law 58/2003, of 17/12, General Tax; LGT ) as with a mere information purpose in order to provide the AEAT with data that it considers necessary for tax management and/or to request/communicate certain aspects of fiscal interest ( v gr. : census declarations).
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That in the last five years the number of tax "models" has grown exponentially, thus it can almost be said that it is not strange that each legislative novelty - no matter how minor it may be - brings with it some new formal obligation that, in turn , takes the form of completing and submitting a new form.
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That the “models”, already considered in themselves, as well as their mere proliferation, are an evident example of the indirect fiscal cost that taxpayers bear, in many cases without due respect to the “limitation of indirect costs derived from compliance with obligations.” “formal” that is so pompously proclaimed in article 3.2 LGT.
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That, notwithstanding the above, in a Rule of Law all obligations - also, of course, the merely formal ones and, as such, accessory (in this case) to the main tax obligation - imposed on citizens must be preceded by the mandatory ones. guarantees in its gestation; in such a way that not only its unavoidable necessity is preserved but its requirement must also have due legal support, meaning that it has been approved through an appropriate regulatory instrument as well as formally published in the corresponding Official Gazette.
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That this requirement - completely basic, we must say - of approval and publication is not only predicable, furthermore, of the “model” itself but, obviously, also of the instructions for its completion; and this for two basic reasons:
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of simple coherence, since an obligation can hardly be demanded - even if it is merely formal - if its recipients are not instructed on how to properly comply with it; and
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of regulatory support in the event of possible non-compliance, since the due completion of these “models” could hardly be required if it is not specified how, while, furthermore, the absence of such instructions would completely delegitimize the eventual imposition of sanctions (it would be completely unorthodox for there were such, because if there are no instructions there could be no violations of these either; all this for basic reasons of typicality).
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That despite the obviousness of all of the above, the truth is that the AEDAF has observed that there are 42 (forty-two) tax “models” lacking officially published instructions (which, in turn, means that these -if they exist- have not been approved in the same normative instrument that illuminates the very “model” called to instruct).
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That, in addition, there are two other “models” (specifically, H100 “Request for payment of refund to heirs” and 952 “Communication of the modification of the tax base in cases of bankruptcy and bad credit”) that are not even so They have not even been formally approved nor, therefore, officially published.
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That, despite the seriousness of the above, this does not prevent the AEDAF from knowing that the completion of any of those 44 models (42 + 2) without following the instructions (neither formally approved nor -nor- officially published, in the if they exist) entails serious harm to taxpayers, either in the form of not seeing some of their legitimate interests taken care of (precisely those that the “model” was called upon to fulfill), or assuming the risk of the imposition of sanctions as a result of the alleged breach of an obligation that, in reality, was not such.
Next, Mr. Jesús Gascón offers the floor to Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada, representative of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF), who comments that, given that it is part of the nature of this Forum to share concerns related to the different casuistry found by tax professionals in the performance of their professional activity, would like to comment on four cases detected since the last plenary session was held:
1. The first is related to the dual treatment pointed out by Mr. Javier Hurtado regarding the two existing Supreme Court rulings in relation to late payment interest, one in Personal Income Tax and the other in Corporate Tax. In relation to the first ruling, he points out that it has caught their attention that the Tax Agency is not sharing the interpretation of the Supreme Court when the interests are not paid by the Tax Agency itself, but are paid by another tax administration, such as the autonomous. He adds that it surprises them, since the nature of this concept is the same, regardless of the Administration from which the interest payment comes.
2. The second case that you wish to comment on, without prejudice to the fact that the AEDAF has already pointed out in other instances, is that the Tax Agency's web program gives unique treatment, in its opinion, to the depreciation of goods acquired free of charge, since it does not attribute, a priori, an acquisition cost to them and, therefore, does not allow their amortization. Thus, he adds that he finds it quite worrying since it affects, in a way, an alarming trend that a program's algorithm could in some way be interpreting a rule.
3. The third issue is closely related to the previous one and is that in the Electronic Headquarters of the Tax Agency certain administrative acts are identified as automatically non-actionable, displaying a notice to that effect. Thus, Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada points out that, beyond the fact that this fact may be legally more than debatable, the AEDAF is struck by the fact that the website itself prevents the interaction of a taxpayer who wishes to defend himself, simply not allowing him to advance. because an algorithm has introduced that criterion. He adds that this is a worrying situation, since it can curtail the defense capacity of millions of taxpayers who are obliged to present their resources and claims electronically.
4. Finally, the representative of the AEDAF points out that his group has informed him of numerous problems with the fractionation option that the personal income tax self-assessment itself allows. Thus, taxpayers who took advantage of this option, at the time of saving the data in the program, disappeared, and have found that on the day of the end of the submission period they have been charged the entire amount.
Mr. Jesús Gascón asks Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada to, in order to locate the problem more quickly, send to the Technical Secretariat an example of the third case that he has commented on, to which he replies that he will do so. Likewise, the General Director of the Tax Agency points out that, in any case, these errors and the fact that one notice or another appears are supported by people who decide how the application behaves under certain circumstances and that, in In no case does an algorithm interpret the regulations.
Next, in relation to the fourth point commented by the representative of the AEDAF, Ms. Stella Raventós Calvo, representative of this same association, comments that the opposite case has also occurred, that is, taxpayers who did not wish to split/defer the amount of their personal income tax self-assessment, they have found that the bank has only charged them 60%.
Next, other associations and schools comment that they have also been aware of the split/postponement of the amount of the declaration, without it having been the option chosen.
Mr. José Borja Tomé, Director of the Tax IT Department, responds that this case had indeed been detected, but not the one commented on by Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada. He adds that a failure in the program under certain circumstances had caused the option of installment/deferral to be marked again, which is the one that is pre-filled in by default in the self-assessment. He adds that the Tax Agency is analyzing how to solve this incident in the way that is least harmful to the taxpayer. The alternatives that are being considered are to issue a new direct debit for the remaining 40% or to inform the taxpayer that this incident has occurred and that the second installment will be charged to the account within the established period.
Mr. Jesús Gascón Catalán asks those present to forward the different cases of which they have become aware, in order to try to give them a quick solution.
Next, Ms. Stella Raventós Calvo intervenes, who comments that she thinks it is a good idea to organize a seminar on cryptocurrencies, but proposes that the work being carried out by the OECD on the subject be taken into account. , in order to incorporate future development standards in a global and international environment.
Ms. Pilar Otero Moar, representative of the General Council of Colleges of Administrative Managers of Spain, then takes the floor and, after thanking those present for the presentations made during the meeting, points out that, in relation to the increase in rectifications of self-assessments and in line with what was commented by Ms. Stella Raventós regarding the increasing number of forms, declarations, overlapping deadlines, etc., when an error occurs in the voluntary period, especially in the quarterly VAT declaration, and direct debit an amount greater than that which would have corresponded, it is now impossible to cancel it and the only solution is to present it correctly, but without failing to attend to the first, since otherwise it will be the subject of a claim by the collection area. Thus, tax professionals understand that the appropriate thing to do is to request the postponement of the original self-assessment, while the rectification is resolved, but this becomes complicated when it is for an amount greater than that established in order not to have to provide guarantees. For all these reasons, your group requests that the tax management area give priority to the resolution of these cases and that the Collection Department paralyze, to some extent, these files, since no one is safe from making a mistake and prove This is what happened with the problem mentioned about the division/postponement in the 2020 personal income tax returns. He adds that there are cases in which the error is very clear, for example, when extra zeros have been added. Finally, he indicates that he is aware that there are cases of VAT self-assessments for the first quarter that remain unresolved and that, in some, despite having requested the postponement, compensation has occurred with the amount to be returned from the personal income tax self-assessment. .
Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro answers that he agrees that the management of these cases must be improved and expedited, since, indeed, it is possible to make a mistake and we must try to minimize its effects, sometimes derived from internal coordination problems. that must be solved. On the other hand, in relation to what was commented by Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada regarding the amortization of leased properties that have been acquired free of charge, he wishes to remember that in this matter the doctrine applied by the Tax Agency is included in the manual of Personal Income Tax and supported by the General Directorate of Taxes, whose reports were sent to the AEDAF in response to a request made through the transparency portal. Likewise, it reiterates that the personal income tax application replicates the reading carried out by the General Directorate of Taxes of the Law and the Tax Regulations and that, in no case, an algorithm interprets the regulations. He points out that in this matter we must also keep in mind that there are cases of taxpayers with very low acquisition values who have been amortizing for years based on the cadastral value. Finally, he insists that in this case the personal income tax application works correctly, although there is a discrepancy on the part of some taxpayers regarding the criteria used in this matter by the Administration, which, at this time, is pending decision. by the Supreme Court.
Ms. Stella Raventós takes the floor again to emphasize that it is an algorithm that prevents the taxpayer from recording in the declaration a value different from that calculated by the application. On the other hand, she states that she is convinced that the Supreme Court will rule in favor of the taxpayer's criteria and requests that the refunds be managed, when the time comes, with a certain diligence and speed.
Don Gonzalo García de Castro responds that, in his case, this will be done, since it does not represent any problem for the Tax Agency. In this sense, he reminds those present that the execution of the Supreme Court ruling on the issue of exemption from maternity/paternity benefit involved the processing of around 1,800,000 files in a few months.
Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada then intervenes to thank the Tax Agency for its willingness to ensure that the debate on this issue is resolved in the definitive manner established by the Supreme Court.
Mr. José Castaño Semitiel, representative of the General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain, then takes the floor to comment that he found the presentation made by Mr. Jesús Gascón very interesting. In this sense, in relation to the simplification of the procedures for rectification of self-assessments, he points out that he agrees with what was commented by Ms. Pilar Otero and indicates that since the beginning of this Forum, schools and associations have demanded solutions in this matter, Therefore, the fact that it has become one of the Tax Agency's priorities for action seems very important. He adds that simplification in this matter will entail regulatory modifications and that he proposes including it in the matters to be discussed in the working groups, since social partners, given their experience in submitting rectifications of declarations, can contribute ideas and suggestions to the improvement of this procedure. On the other hand, in relation to the modifications introduced in the applications increasing the notices when submitting a self-assessment, Mr. José Castaño states that different errors have been produced that prevented continuing with the declaration, so he requests that they be anticipated materials to the development companies as much as possible so that they can carry out the tests they need and thus, when the submission deadlines begin, the software is sufficiently tested and there are no You have to continually wait for new versions and updates of it, which greatly slow down the activity of tax professionals. On the other hand, the representative of the General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain, comments that he also found what was stated about civic-tax education very interesting, since on previous occasions he has commented that a good part of the activity of Social collaborators is dedicated to educating taxpayers on tax regulations and the importance of tax contributions. Thus, this initiative of the Tax Agency aimed at children and young students seems essential and offers the collaboration and support in this activity of the group it represents. Likewise, Mr. José Castaño points out that, in relation to litigation, the data presented seems very high, being a matter of concern not only for the Administration, but also for tax professionals, since it represents an increase in their workload. and reducing it would mean streamlining its activity. He adds that lately he has been observing that conflict not only is not reducing, but is increasing and an example of this is that, if not 100%, 99% of settlements carry a penalty, almost always for entry outside the deadline or other reasons, forcing the presentation of allegations, appeals, etc., that is, a greater workload for advisors. Thus, also in this matter you wish to request the Tax Agency to previously study the files for imposition of sanctions, so that only the appropriate ones are issued. Finally, he states that on behalf of the group he represents he would like to thank Mr. Guillermo Barros for the attention given from the first moment in relation to the incident discussed at this meeting regarding errors in the payment of personal income tax, and that, for peace of mind of its members, allowed them to quickly offer an explanation to their clients.
Mr. Jesús Gascón then takes the floor, pointing out that the idea is to discuss in the working group meetings the modifications that affect a procedure as massive as the rectification of declarations, since in a generalized system of self-assessments, it is normal for a series of incidents to occur that have to be resolved quickly, without being processed as resources or claims, since these are other types of issues. On the other hand, in relation to the civic-tax education program, he appreciates José Castaño's offer and states that he believes the participation of social collaborators in this task is essential. He adds that the latest reform of the Organic Law of Education has included teaching the social function of taxes and fiscal justice, so that from regulated instruction actions will be carried out in this sense piloted by the autonomous communities, which are the ones who have jurisdiction in matters of education. In this sense, the Tax Agency wants to carry out complementary activities not only aimed at children and young people, but at society as a whole. However, when it is a public Administration that undertakes actions of this type, there will always be those who, rightly or wrongly, appreciate a certain bias or hidden interests or a desire to increase income, and not exclusively training purposes. He adds that, however, what it is about is simply to promote within society as a whole an understanding of how the tax system works and, perhaps, thanks to a greater understanding of it, it is possible to improve tax awareness. . Thus, Mr. Jesús Gascón reiterates that the Tax Agency is convinced that it is easier to achieve this objective if there is the participation of other groups, such as those present here. Finally, he points out that other initiatives are also being studied in collaboration with the Institute of Fiscal Studies, which will soon be reported in this Forum and in which the support and collaboration of those present will also be requested.
Given that no new interventions are made, the Director General of the Tax Agency thanks everyone for their attendance and participation and concludes the nineteenth session of the plenary session of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals.
The Technical Secretary of the Forum
Ms. Dolores Carreño Beltrán
The President of the Forum
D. Jesús Gascón Catalán