Minutes of the meeting

MINUTES OF THE PLENARY MEETING OF THE FORUM OF ASSOCIATIONS AND
COLLEGES OF TAX PROFESSIONALS
HELD ON NOVEMBER 26, 2015

President of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals

Director General of the State Agency for Tax Administration

Mr. Santiago Menéndez Menéndez

Members representing the State Tax Administration Agency:

Director of the Tax Management Department

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa Cordon

Director of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection

Mr. Luis Mª Sánchez González

Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service

Mr. Ángel Rodríguez Rodríguez

Director of Legal Services

Mr. Diego Loma-Osorio Lerena

Special Delegate of Catalonia

Mr. Gonzalo David García de Castro

Deputy Director General of Applications – Tax Information Technology Department

Mrs. Cristina Alvarez Zazo

Deputy Director General of Intervention and Management of Excise Taxes - Department of Customs and Excise Taxes

Mr. Vicente Cillero Martinez

Deputy Director General of Coordination and Management - Collection Department

Mr. Miguel Lorenz Falomir

Members representing Associations and Colleges

Spanish Association of Tax Advisors

Deputy Director of the Office of Studies

Mrs. Marta Gonzalez Alvaro

Professional Association of Accounting and Tax Experts of Spain

Chairperson

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel

General Council of the Spanish Bar Association

Store Manager

Mr. Adolfo Estebanez Velasco

Head of Accounting

Mrs. Aurora Lopez Aldea

General Council of Colleges of Administrative Managers

President of the Alicante College

Mr. Jose Luis Tonda Martinez

General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain

Specialist in Fiscal and Tax Studies

Mr. Jose Castaño Semitiel

Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors

Deputy President

Mr. Jose Luis Carreras Torres

Office of Administrative Managers and Tax Advisors

Lawyer

Mrs. Raquel Cobos Casero

General Registry of Tax Advisors / Registry of Tax Advisor Economists

Member of the Board of Directors

Mr. Jesus Fernandez-Bravo Pinto

Member of the Board of Directors

Ms. Esther Luque Sanchez

Technical Secretariat of the Forum of Associations and Professional Colleges

Deputy Director General of External Communication – Planning and Institutional Relations Service

Mr. Rafael Serrano Galan

In Madrid, on November 26, 2015, the eighth plenary meeting of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals was held, attended by the persons mentioned above, and in accordance with the following:

AGENDA

1. Opening by the Director General of the State Tax Administration Agency.

2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on July 1, 2015.

3. 2015 Income Tax Campaign: WEB Income Extension.

4. Current status of project SII .

5. Other considerations, requests and questions.

I.- In development of the first point of the agenda , Mr. Ángel Rodríguez Rodríguez, Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service, opened the session, welcoming those attending the eighth plenary meeting of the Forum and apologizing for the absence of Mr. Santiago Menéndez Menéndez, President of the Forum and General Director of the State Tax Administration Agency, who for reasons beyond his control cannot appear at this time, although he will join as soon as possible. He also stated that he wanted to take this opportunity to convey the Tax Agency's desire to continue cooperating with social partners, trying to find common ground that could yield mutual benefits in the management of taxes, both for the Tax Agency and for social partners.

II.- In development of the second point of the agenda , the Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service gives the floor to Mr. Rafael Serrano Galán, as head of the Technical Secretariat of the Forum, who explains the process of preparing the minutes of the previous meeting and addresses those present in case they wish to make any observations or comments on them.

Mr. Adolfo Estébanez Velasco, Manager of the General Council of the Spanish Bar Association, asks for the floor and states that Mr. Rafael Gil March, Vice-Dean of the Balearic Association, normally attends the plenary meetings of this Forum and that, as he cannot come today, he has asked him to reiterate the question he asked at the previous plenary meeting regarding whether the Tax Agency was planning to publish an information note on the late submission of Form 720 and that it be reflected in the minutes of this meeting.

Without prejudice to leaving such a statement on record, Mr. Rafael Serrano clarifies that at this time observations are being requested regarding the minutes of the previous meeting, to which Mr. Adolfo Estébanez states that the minutes of the previous session seem correct to him.

Mr. Rafael Serrano takes the floor again and, as there are no further comments, declares that the minutes of the meeting of 1 July 2015 are approved and will be published in the space reserved for the Forum on the Tax Agency's website.

III.- In development of the third point of the agenda , Mr. Ángel Rodríguez explains that, as previously reported in this Forum, the Tax Agency continues working on the implementation for 2016 of the “Renta WEB” project, whose pilot test was carried out in 2015 in the offices of the AEAT . To report on the current status of the project, he gives the floor to Mr. Rufino de la Rosa Cordón, Director of the Tax Management Department.

Mr Rufino de la Rosa explains that, although the Renta WEB project is primarily aimed at users of the PADRE programme, he believes it is advisable for social collaborators to be aware of it. He then explains the reasons why, despite the fact that the PADRE programme is a sufficiently tested tool with a high degree of acceptance and success, the Tax Agency has decided to carry out this project:

• Almost 20% of accesses to the AEAT website are made from mobile devices (phone, tablet, etc.) that do not allow the download of programs.

• Transfer to Income Tax the pre-declaration system that has already been implemented with other taxes.

• Simplicity, since there is no need to install the PADRE program or Java, and ubiquity, since it allows you to start the declaration on any device and finish it on another, since the information is saved on the server.

• It is a more interactive service that adapts to all taxpayer profiles, and which provides access to the latest update of tax data at all times.

The Director of the Tax Management Department goes on to point out that in the last two Income Tax campaigns, a transition has been carried out between the draft and the PADRE program, tending to unify and integrate the two tools so that their use is increasingly simpler.

He comments that in the 2014 Income Tax campaign there was, on the one hand, an environment "host” for the draft, used by certain taxpayer profiles, and Renta WEB, which was used only in the offices of the Tax Agency and, on the other hand, the desktop of the taxpayer who had downloaded the PADRE program, for all types of income. He added that the Renta WEB pilot test was very positive, with a number of suggestions being collected and the target being exceeded. The Director of the Tax Management Department goes on to explain that for the 2015 Income Tax campaign, the PADRE program will continue to exist, especially for certain incomes that cannot be declared with Renta WEB, such as those derived from economic activities, and also for those taxpayers who prefer to continue using it. For the rest of taxpayers, Renta WEB will be used. He goes on to say that there were two types of drafts:

• Draft pending confirmation, in which the Administration knew all the tax data and the taxpayer only had to confirm it.

• Draft pending modification, in which the taxpayer was required to provide a series of data before submission.

As for who will be able to use Renta WEB, the Director of the Tax Management Department explains that just as there were two draft profiles in previous campaigns, in Renta WEB there will also be two:

• Immediate profile: The Tax Agency has all the taxpayer's information, including the options that can be exercised. We hope that the transition will be as easy as possible for this group and that they will see minimal differences from the previous campaign.

• Step by step profile: The Tax Agency needs information from the taxpayer. In this case, the taxpayer will have to go through a series of screens where he will have to provide some information.

Regarding the differences that the taxpayer will perceive, it depends on his profile:

• Immediate profile: The differences are minimal. Just like the draft, you will be able to view it on paper and online. You will receive a full pre-declaration.

• Step by step profile: In previous campaigns they received the tax data and a draft pending modification. In the next campaign, taxpayers will notice that the only calculation tool will be Renta WEB, that is, they will receive a letter and the tax data, but not a draft. Generally, this type of taxpayer will not notice much of a difference either, since in previous years they also had to go through a series of screens to provide data.

• Taxpayers with economic activities: They will continue with the PADRE Program, which will also be available to any taxpayer who prefers it.

The Director of the Tax Management Department goes on to point out that the access routes, as well as the identification routes, will remain the same: electronic certificate, Cl@ve PIN and reference number. Regarding the latter, indicate the differences: In previous years, when a taxpayer requested a reference number, their tax data was related to that moment. With Renta WEB, tax data will be continuously updated with the data available to the Administration. That is, the linking of the reference number is transferred from a file number to a taxpayer. This provides greater data security and the possibility of requesting more than one reference number if necessary, with only the last one being valid.

As for the navigation process, once the taxpayer identifies himself, a home screen will appear, where he will be able to see the processing status and the services available to him. If Renta WEB does not appear among the latter, it is because you have to use the PADRE program. For taxpayers with an immediate transfer profile, navigation will be carried out in three steps: You will access the service using one of the available forms of identification and your personal data will appear; Once these have been confirmed, a screen appears with a summary of your tax data, which includes, as a new feature, a comparison between individual and joint taxation. Finally, click on “submit declaration”.

The Director of the Tax Management Department goes on to comment that three versions are available when accessing Renta WEB: taxpayer version, office version, and taxpayer telephone assistance office version. The new features that can be highlighted are the following:

• The number of children with income for the purposes of joint taxation is increased to four.

• Regarding the reference number, note that in the joint declaration, one will be required for each of the spouses.

• Regarding the CC. AA. residence, the data will be transferred if it appears in the tax data.

• In the case of deceased ancestors, the date of death is added in the capture window.

Regarding the summary of data, the Director of the Tax Management Department continues, it will be accessible to all taxpayers, both those with an immediate profile and those with a step-by-step profile. Based on the experience of the pilot test, the possibility of accessing the declared data has been incorporated. The aim is to prevent taxpayers from feeling that they have lost control by making the process of preparing their tax return so intuitive and simple. This way, you can access the report of the data that has been incorporated into your declaration and check it.

Regarding the filing of the declaration, it will be similar to previous years. This can be done from the declaration summary screen or from another section of the declaration. In both cases, you will access the presentation window where, in order to encourage electronic submission, immediate submission will appear selected. The taxpayer may modify this option and choose to obtain a pre-declaration that will only be presentable if the option to print a pre-declaration is chosen, generating the income/refund document.

You can also download a PDF of the declaration in a non-presentable format at any time. Another new feature compared to previous campaigns is that the declaration method box will appear pre-filled, as will the bank details. As for the tax allocation, the option from the previous year will be preselected.

Mr. Rufino comments that the calendar planned for the 2015 Income Tax campaign will be similar to that of previous years. He adds that another novelty is that in previous campaigns only the pages containing information were printed; In 2015, however, only the boxes that have information or those that, being “zero”, need to be displayed because they contain relevant information will be printed.

Finally, Mr. Rufino said that he hopes to have informed those attending this Forum of the current situation of this project, which, on the one hand, involves providing all taxpayers with a semi-draft, even if it is not complete, and on the other, without taking into account the taxpayer's IT resources, providing this service to nineteen and a half million taxpayers, which represents a significant technological challenge.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel, President of the Professional Association of Accounting and Tax Experts of Spain, takes the floor and asks about the concept of “pre-declaration” and its legal effects.

Mr Rufino de la Rosa clarifies that this is more of an internal terminology than a legal one and that it has been extended to all taxes. Basically, it is a declaration that becomes such when the taxpayer signs it and the new feature that Renta WEB brings is that the data is on the AEAT server.

Next, Ms. Cristina Álvarez Zazo, Deputy Director General of Applications of the Tax Information Technology Department, takes the floor and explains that the pre-declaration is a printing service that, in order to be able to use it, requires connecting to the Tax Agency's electronic headquarters. Until now, the PADRE program was printed locally from a personal computer without the need for an Internet connection. Pre-declarations do require a connection, since the printing service is provided by the Tax Agency's electronic headquarters. Ms. Cristina clarifies that the ministerial orders refer to “printing service”, but that in the Tax Agency, for the sake of simplicity, it is called “pre-declaration”.

Mr. Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto, Member of the Board of Directors of the General Registry of Tax Advisors / Registry of Tax Advisory Economists, took the floor and stated that an effort should be made to ensure that taxpayers' tax data were already up to date by March, since otherwise errors would occur due to data that the taxpayer was unaware he had to provide. He added that it would be desirable to be able to make corrections to the declarations submitted by 30 June and not have to submit a supplementary declaration or initiate a procedure to request undue income. He goes on to say that he knows that this proposal goes against the General Tax Law and that is why the Associations have always requested that the General Directorate of Taxes attend these meetings.

The Director of the Tax Management Department answers that this tool allows, looking to the future, to make legal progress in this regard. He also said that it is true that there is information that is collected with a certain delay, but that considerable progress has been made on this issue.

Mr. José Castaño Semitiel, Specialist in Fiscal and Tax Studies at the General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain, takes the floor and asks whether in the next campaign it will be possible to change the mobile phone number when requesting the reference number. Mr. Rufino de la Rosa confirms that this possibility will exist.

The Deputy Director General of Applications of the Tax Information Technology Department intervenes and states that the novelty of the next campaign is that each time a reference number is requested, the previous one is cancelled, unlike what occurred in previous campaigns in which the reference numbers requested by a taxpayer coexisted. For this reason, he adds, coordination between the advisor and his clients will be necessary, since the client's request for a reference number could cancel out the advisor's request and vice versa.

Mr. José Castaño Semitiel takes the floor again to raise two questions: The first concerns whether data downloads will continue to be available for computer applications and, second, whether Associations will be able to access the pre-declaration printing system.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa answers that, as regards the first question, it will be possible to download the data using computer applications; However, in relation to the second question, he answers no, that the AEAT has not considered changing the strategy initiated two years ago.

Next, Ms. Aurora López Aldea, Head of Accounting at the General Council of Spanish Lawyers, takes the floor and comments that the provisional calendar sets June 24 as the deadline for direct debit. He asked whether any progress had been made on this issue, recalling the controversy that arose at all meetings in relation to this deadline.

Mr. Ángel Rodríguez intervened to indicate that if there is no problem and to follow the agenda, this matter would be dealt with in point 5 of the same. He asked if anyone else wanted to comment on the Renta WEB project, and there were no further comments.

IV.- In development of the fourth point of the agenda , the Technical Secretary gives the floor to Mr. Rufino de la Rosa, who goes on to explain the current situation of the Immediate Supply of Information Project ( SII ). It begins by pointing out that the Draft Royal Decree for the modernisation, improvement and promotion of the use of electronic means in the management of the Value Added Tax was submitted for public consultation on 31 July, receiving numerous observations and that it is currently awaiting the report of the Council of State. He comments that the project will be applicable, in principle, to large companies and those that are in REDEME . It points out that the project basically consists of keeping the VAT registration books, in the electronic headquarters of the AEAT , incorporating them into an XML file a more complete way of information that the company already has, although not in a single document.

At that moment, Mr. Santiago Menéndez Menéndez, General Director of the AEAT , joins the meeting and, after apologizing for the delay, requests that the session continue.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa goes on to indicate that the four-day period will be counted, in the case of invoices issued, from the date of issue and, in the case of invoices received, from the date of their accounting registration.

Regarding the operational calendar, it indicates that the SII will be applicable on January 1, 2017, but that a pilot test will begin in 2016. Mr. Rufino explains that companies whose experience is reusable, that is, externalizable to other companies, will participate in the pilot test. Thus, companies from different categories and sectors have been selected. The same procedure has been followed with technology suppliers. The Director of the Tax Management Department adds that there are companies that would like to participate in the pilot test and that they are considering that if it goes well and the companies that participate in it decrease their need for attention from the AEAT , starting in the summer a second call will be made to those companies that are interested. Furthermore, companies that have their computer systems ready to start supplying information to the Tax Agency in the last months of 2016 will not have to wait until January 2017 and will be able to start doing so in the previous month of December. Mr. Rufino goes on to point out that in the case of companies that do not have a powerful internal IT or tax department, that is, those that are more closely related to social partners, the AEAT is working with companies that support and develop IT programs for consulting, electronic signatures or electronic invoicing so that they can also provide this service. In a second phase, the pilot test could be extended to companies with these characteristics, once we see how the experience develops.

The President then opens the floor for the floor.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel takes the floor and explains that the consequences arising from failures in the operation of the AEAT servers should be regulated, since the electronic headquarters is the only channel through which social collaboration is instrumentalized, and professional offices suffer a series of losses in these situations and, specifically, with project SII and the four-day period, he sees this regulation as very necessary.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa intervened and stated that although an extension of the deadline is generally contemplated due to technical difficulties, the extension of the deadline is a matter that is being studied, and that it might be desirable to include some caution in the ministerial order regulating XML files.

Mr. Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto, Member of the Board of Directors of the General Registry of Tax Advisors / Registry of Tax Advisory Economists, takes the floor and asks that it be recorded in the minutes that the members of his association doubt the need for such a period and the effort it could entail for taxpayers.

Mr. Santiago Menéndez intervened, indicating that a comprehensive understanding of the project is necessary to properly assess its requirements.

Mr. Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto points out that the associations and colleges participating in the meeting are representing groups of professionals and taxpayers, and they have to convey the issues presented to them and, in light of the above, refers to the period in which the refunds are being made.

The President states that this issue will be positively affected by the SII which will allow them to be accelerated and that explanations can be given regarding possible changes to this deadline.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel intervenes to link his statements on the deadline to companies registered in the REDEME and advocates the search for the effectiveness of social collaboration in this area.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa takes the floor and states that the SII represents a change in the way the social collaborator relates to his clients or, within large companies, how their departments relate. The project contemplates immediacy so that, on the one hand, processes are automated and, on the other, so that the transmission of information is not concentrated at a specific time, but rather as the billing is produced.

Mr. Santiago Menéndez intervenes and comments that the AEAT is making a great effort to disseminate and explain the SII project, which it finds has many advantages. This is a new way of interacting with the tax authorities, which the compliant taxpayer will find to be more fluid and peaceful after adapting to their own internal management and their relationships with social partners. He goes on to say that problems will arise at the beginning of the adaptation process and that is why a pilot test is being carried out to allow the system to be perfected. He also added that within the AEAT itself, intensive work is being carried out to disseminate the project. He goes on to comment on the importance of the collaboration of the Colleges and Associations in the dissemination of the project among those taxpayers for whom the system is not mandatory.

The Director of the Tax Management Department takes the floor to report that an explanatory document on the SII project has been published on the Tax Agency's website and that a space is planned to be established on the same where all the documentation (regulations, frequently asked questions, etc.) on the same will be published.

Ms. Esther Luque Sánchez, Member of the Board of Directors of the General Registry of Tax Advisors / Registry of Tax Advisory Economists, intervenes and asks whether the second phase of the pilot test will be accessible to all those who voluntarily wish to join and carry out the internship.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa states that the number of companies that will join this second phase of the pilot test will depend on the availability of the AEAT and is not yet finalized. He added that the Associations and Colleges represented at this Forum will be consulted to see if they are interested in participating.

Ms. Esther Luque Sánchez points out that on January 1, 2017, the SII will be mandatory for certain companies that, although they have a turnover of more than 6 million euros, are not so large in structure and organization and many unforeseen events may occur in their adaptation. The SILTRA Plan of Social Security continues to be used as a model, where the system has been implemented gradually and with three months of practice. He goes on to propose that participation in this second phase of internships be accessible and automatic for anyone interested in doing so.

The Deputy Director General of Applications of the Tax Information Technology Department took the floor and pointed out that it is planned that by November 2016, access to the system will be free for groups that must join the system on January 1, 2017, so that they will have time to do training.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa intervened to indicate that unlike the pilot test, both in its first and second phase, where the relationship between the officials of the AEAT and the company staff is permanent and its purpose is to resolve the questions that arise from its implementation in order to perfect the system, what is intended, foreseeably for the month of November, is to facilitate free access to the system so that companies that voluntarily decide to do so can test its operation. He concludes by adding that in this process of adaptation of companies, the Tax Agency has the fundamental role of the social collaborator, providing them with its support and professional advice.

Mr. José Luis Carreras Torres, Deputy President of the Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors, took the floor and stated that, indeed, social collaborators help the implementation among taxpayers of the procedures, novelties and tax changes in general and asked about the recognition of this work.

Mr. Santiago Menéndez states that the AEAT recognises and appreciates the work of the social collaborator, in its own area of operation, which is to help implement AEAT projects.

V.- In development of the fifth point on the agenda , the President addresses those present to inform them that a document prepared by the Cooperative Relations Working Group of the Large Business Forum has recently been published on the AEAT website. This document is part of the Code of Good Tax Practices and establishes a series of commitments by both the Tax Agency and companies, as well as the procedures for monitoring compliance with them and, where appropriate, the consequences arising from non-compliance. Its purpose is to encourage cooperative relationships. He adds that it would be interesting if a similar debate and analysis were to take place in this Forum with the aim of preparing a document, adapted to the particularities of the relations between the AEAT and the social collaborators, among which would be the following:

• The document would be discussed with Associations, Colleges and professionals and not directly with companies.

• Not all commitments made by large companies, as well as the procedures established, have the same importance in this Forum.

The President then gives the floor to Mr. Adolfo Estébanez Velasco, Manager of the General Council of the Spanish Bar Association, who reiterates the question raised by this Association at the previous plenary meeting regarding whether the Tax Agency was planning to publish an information note on the late submission of Form 720 and requests that the question be reflected in the minutes of this meeting.

Mr. Ángel Rodríguez took the floor and clarified that the minutes of the previous meeting recorded that some association had submitted a query to the General Directorate of Taxes on this matter.

Mr. Santiago Menéndez intervenes and clarifies that, in relation to the taxpayer who submits form 720 and regularizes voluntarily, the consequences that the rule imposes are that the Tax Agency applies the surcharges corresponding to late submissions and not the 150% penalty, without prejudice to the formal penalty for late submission, which is much lower. He added that the Tax Agency is entrusted with functions of assistance and control, issuing a considerable number of administrative acts throughout the year and maintaining a good level of quality in its operation. He points out, however, that it is logical that errors occur, which does not mean that the AEAT has an interest in applying the most restrictive and unfavorable criteria for the taxpayer. Mr. Santiago Menéndez goes on to report that the European Commission has raised a series of issues with Spain, and that when there is a definitive pronouncement from Brussels, the Tax Agency will comply with it as it has done previously. On the other hand, he indicates that the number of 150% sanctions being imposed is very small since it responds to a very specific profile: taxpayers who did not submit Form 750, who also did not submit Form 720 or did so outside the deadline at the request of the Administration or voluntarily without regularising the consequences imposed by the law and who, in addition, cannot prove that the assets or rights are derived from declared income. Finally, Mr. Santiago Menéndez encourages you to submit a query to the General Directorate of Taxes if you have not done so previously.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel takes the floor and reiterates the request that the Tax Agency issue a note explaining the criteria that the Director General has outlined in this meeting and which he already outlined in the previous session.

The President intervenes to comment that in relation to the proposal he made earlier in this meeting to prepare a document within the framework of the cooperative relationship, one of the commitments that the Tax Agency could make would be to publicize the criteria that are being applied in a certain matter, either on its own initiative or at the request of the social collaborators. He points out that this would be very innovative and an exercise in transparency, since the usual way for the Administration to clarify the criteria it applies is through the production of administrative acts.

The Director of the Tax Inspection Department took the floor to point out that the responsibility for interpreting the rules lies with the General Directorate of Taxes and not with the Tax Agency.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel intervened and stated that, indeed, the binding interpretation is that of the General Directorate of Taxes, but that social collaborators would greatly appreciate knowing the internal notes that the Tax Agency prepares for its own employees, which, although they lack that binding effect, would allow the social collaborator to know what to expect, thus avoiding litigation in many cases.

Mr. Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto takes the floor and, in relation to the issue of joint ownership and civil partnerships, points out that there are discrepancies between the criteria of the Tax Agency and the General Directorate of Taxes.

Mr. Rufino de la Rosa answers that the officials of the Tax Agency also demand clear instructions in some matters, as is the case cited. He adds that what has happened is that a draft of instructions that the AEAT was preparing has been published in the media without being finalized, and that the Tax Management Department is awaiting the reports requested from various administrative bodies to prepare instructions. It is expected that they will be available shortly.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel takes the floor and expresses his concern that as of January 1, 2017, an actuary of the Tax Agency during the course of an audit may modify the classification of the income obtained by a community of property that has a commercial purpose and its NIF of community of property and that has been operating as such since it was established, but that according to the Civil Code is not a community of property.

Mr Rufino de la Rosa intervened and clarified that this issue has been resolved with the queries of the General Directorate of Taxes, which can be used in any verification procedure.

The Director of the Tax Management Department goes on to highlight the Tax Agency's interest in drawing up instructions for the unification of criteria. He points out that two situations occur: The first would be the case of a community of property previously established as such, having a business activity, and to which the Administration granted a NIF of community of property. At this time, your rating has a double safeguard: the queries of the General Directorate of Taxes and the administrative procedure that granted you the NIF based on the documentation provided. Mr. Rufino de la Rosa goes on to point out that a different issue is that of a civil society that was established as such and now wants to modify its classification, or the case of new registrations. Work is currently being done on this issue to achieve uniformity of criteria.

Mr. Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto takes the floor and states that he does not understand why freedom of choice is not allowed for taxation, in the attribution of income or in the Corporate Tax, to which the Director of the Management Department responds that it is because it is stated in the law.

Other attendees expressed their concern that the change affects points such as partner remuneration, accounting obligations, professional associations, etc. In relation to the latter, Mr. Rufino answers that, as he has already said previously, the instructions that have been known are only a draft and that those that are being prepared at this time already include that professional civil societies established under Law 2/2007 do not have a commercial purpose.

Mr. José Luis Tonda Martínez takes the floor and comments on the problem they have in opening current accounts in the name of community property entities, since financial institutions have traditionally argued that they cannot do so because they lack legal personality. He added that there are entities that do not have this problem and asked the Tax Agency to also draw up clear instructions on this issue to solve the problem. He then asks about the document sent to the Technical Secretariat of the Forum by his College in relation to the preparation of the fiscal calendar for the 2016 fiscal year.

The Director of the Tax Administration Department states that he cannot add anything more on the subject of joint ownership and, as regards their legal personality, he points out that this is one of the issues that is being analysed in depth.

Next, Mr. Ángel Rodríguez takes the floor and explains that in relation to the document sent by the General Council of Official Colleges of Administrative Managers of Spain, which he appreciates, the position maintained in it is already known by the Tax Agency. He added that work is being done on this issue and, pending any clarification from the Collection area, there is a difficulty in shortening the deadlines due to both internal IT needs of the Tax Agency and those imposed by collaborating entities. The Tax Agency has analysed the experiences of other Administrations and the conclusions have been that by making the deadlines for direct debit coincide with those for declarations, there is a delay in the effective date of the payment in direct debits. In addition, errors in account numbers, ownership, overdrafts, etc. are increasing, meaning that these five days are used to correct errors.

Mr Jesús Fernández-Bravo Pinto spoke to point out that in the 2011 and 2012 tax campaigns the deadline was reduced to three days and that no exceptional incidents occurred.

Mr. Miguel Lorenz Falomir, Deputy Director General of Coordination and Management of the Collection Department, took the floor and stated that when the deadline was reduced to three days, the collection department had problems determining which deadlines were urgent. He added that the work of financial institutions, which social partners describe as non-existent, was demonstrated by a significant increase in incidents compared to the same period last year.

Mr. Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel took the floor and stated that at a previous meeting of this Forum, the social collaborators proposed extending the deadlines, that is, moving the payment deadlines from the 20th or 25th to the 30th. At that meeting, the Tax Agency agreed to study the proposal. He says that what the social collaborators are looking for is a different perspective in the tax collection system of the Tax Administration so that its instrumentalization through social collaboration is more peaceful, and adds that this is achieved by extending the deadlines. He says that over the last 15 years the flow of information that they have to process has increased exponentially, meaning that the workload that social collaborators have taken on is considerably greater and the possibility of making mistakes is also greater.

Mr Ángel Rodríguez points out that this proposal transfers the date problem, to which Mr Juan Carlos Berrocal Rangel indicates that this is not the case, since social collaborators would have 10 more days to make the direct debits. Mr Ángel Rodríguez points out that deadlines are fundamentally a matter of budgetary policy.

Mr. José Luis Tonda Martínez adds that another problem that the Tax Agency should try to solve is that, especially in the case of communities of property and civil companies, financial institutions do not charge the NRC in batches to the account of any of the commoners or partners, claiming that it is not the same ownership.

Mr. Miguel Lorenz intervenes and clarifies that batch payment is a service provided by a credit institution to its clients and that the only thing the Tax Agency could do is recommend to its interlocutors at the financial institutions that they try to solve this problem.

Mr. José Luis Tonda Martínez takes the floor to reiterate, as in previous meetings, the incidents that occur with the issuance of certificates of being up to date with payments, especially when there are deferrals.

Mr. Miguel Lorenz points out that this matter is currently being analyzed and there is a draft of measures to reduce burdens that will be approved by the Council of Ministers shortly, which is expected to resolve this issue.

Finally, Mr. José Luis Tonda Martínez, in relation to the problem that occurred with telematic access to the AEAT website on October 20, points out that, although the stoppage lasted one hour and nineteen minutes, when access was reestablished it was very slow and all procedures and submissions were very slow. He goes on to say that the same thing that has happened to the Tax Agency with its computer systems can happen to social collaborators, which is why he believes that the AEAT should reconsider and give them back the two-day period they had before to be able to resend the documents that had been left pending processing upon expiry of the deadline.

Mr. Ángel Rodríguez replies that he takes note of the request and, given that it has a legal aspect as well as a computer aspect, he proposes to analyze it carefully.

Mr. José Luis Tonda Martínez continues, stating that in order to improve tax management, it is necessary to reach specific agreements on various matters between the Tax Agency, financial institutions and social partners.

Mr. Ángel Rodríguez takes the floor and asks if there are any further comments. With no further statements being made, the Technical Secretary of the Forum thanks everyone for their attendance and participation and closes the eighth plenary session of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals.