Minutes of the meeting

MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE PLENARY SESSION OF THE FORUM OF ASSOCIATIONS AND
COLLEGES OF TAX PROFESSIONALS
HELD ON JULY 6, 2023

President of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals

Director General of the State Agency for Tax Administration

Ms. Soledad Fernandez Doctor

Members representing the Tax Agency

Director of the Tax Management Department

Mrs. Rosa Maria Prieto del Rey

Director of the Collection Department

Mrs. Virginia Muñoz Fernández

Director of the Department of Aduanas and Excise Duties

Ms. Pilar Jurado Borrego

Director of the Tax Information Technology Department

José Borja Tomé

Director of Legal Services

Diego Loma-Osorio Lerena

Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service

Ignacio Fraisero Aranguren

Special Delegate of the Special Delegation of Catalonia

Isidoro Garcia Millan

Deputy Director General of Legal Management and Legal Assistance of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection

Manuel Luis Martinez Cabeza

General Directorate for Taxation Ministerio de Hacienda

Deputy Director General of Taxes

Carlos Gomez Jimenez

Members representing Associations and Colleges

Spanish Association of Tax Advisors

Member in charge of Studies and Research

Javier Gomez Taboada

Director of the Study Office

Arturo Jimenez Happy

Professional Association of Accounting and Tax Experts of Spain

Secretary of the Board of Directors

Jose Antonio Fernandez Garcia-Moreno

General Council of the Spanish Bar Association

Vice-Dean of the Balearic Bar Association

Rafael Gil March

General Council of Colleges of Administrative Managers of Spain

Head of the Tax Department of the General Council

Ms. Pilar Otero Moar

General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain

Member of the Fiscal Affairs Committee

Jose Castano Semitiel

Member of the Fiscal Affairs Committee

Jose Ruiz Sanchez

Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors

Chairperson

Joan Torres Torres

Second Vice President

Adolfo Jimenez Ramirez

Office of Administrative Managers and Tax Advisors

Lawyer

Mrs. Raquel Cobos Casero

Registry of Tax Advisors Economists

Member of the Board of Directors

Ms. Esther Luque Sanchez

Technical Secretariat of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals

Deputy Director General of External Communications of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service

Mrs. Maria Dolores Carreno Beltran

The twenty-third plenary meeting of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals will be held on July 6, 2023, with the attendance of the persons listed and in accordance with the following:

AGENDA

1. Opening of the session by the Director General of the State Tax Administration Agency.
2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on November 29, 2022.
3. Information on the topics discussed in the working groups.
4. Provisional balance of the 2022 Income Tax campaign.
5. Corrective self-assessments.
6. Next call.
7. Other considerations, requests and questions.

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

The session is opened by Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor, General Director of the State Tax Administration Agency (hereinafter, the Tax Agency) and President of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals, who, after greeting the attendees and thanking them for their presence, points out that at the last plenary meeting, held on November 29, 2022, the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF) requested the participation in the sessions of this Forum of representatives of the General Directorate of Taxes, the Central Economic-Administrative Court and the Council for the Defense of the Taxpayer. He adds that he has discussed the issue with the heads of these organizations and, in principle, the General Directorate of Taxes will attend more regularly, the TEAC will do so when the matter to be discussed requires it and, with respect to the CDC , its presence at this Forum is not considered necessary, unless there is a specific issue that may directly affect it. Thus, Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor welcomes Mr. Carlos Gómez Jiménez, Deputy Director General of Taxes, to the meeting, who will develop the 5th point of the agenda, and to whom the members of the Forum will have the opportunity to address any questions they consider appropriate.

On the other hand, the Director General points out that the Tax Agency also made a commitment at the last Plenary Session to prepare an updated list of the proposals made by associations and schools that were still pending, as well as the status of their completion. He added that, based on the minutes of previous sessions and the issues discussed at the meetings of the working groups, a list of proposals was being drawn up which would be sent to the members of the Forum as soon as it was updated, in order to supplement it with the comments and observations received. Thus, it indicates that there are proposals that are quite old and others that are more modern, such as, for example, the following:

• Weekend notification alerts: The matter is being studied in depth as it presents certain technical and computer complexities. However, the goal is to reduce them as much as possible, if not eliminate them completely.
• Match the last day of the deadline for direct debiting of self-assessments with the last day for filing them: This issue is being discussed with the collaborating entities and, although it does not seem feasible that both deadlines will coincide, at least initially, the possibility of reducing the five-day gap that currently exists is being seriously studied.
• Establishment of a specific communication channel for entities adhering to the Code of Good Practices, as well as for tax professionals adhering to it: The Tax Agency is constantly developing instruments to improve information and assistance services in order to promote a cohesive model where the different tools are integrated and complemented, facilitating citizens' access to the help they need, whether by telephone, in person, through ADI , through informants and virtual assistants, etc. The Administration is also aware of the importance of the collaboration provided by tax professionals for the tax system, and so much so that the Strategic Plan of the Tax Agency 2020 - 2023 already includes the establishment of a specific communication channel for social collaborators. However, due to the existence of other priorities whose immediate attention was more urgent, it has been somewhat relegated, although the Tax Agency has been working on its development. Thus, this commitment has currently been resumed with greater impetus and, predictably, this project will begin in the fall, although, at first, it will affect in-person and specialized attention in the case of requirements and settlements in the area. of tax management in relation to Corporate Tax, to later extend it to other tax figures, such as VAT or Personal Income Tax . Video assistance will also be promoted in order to avoid tax professionals wasting time travelling to the offices of the Tax Agency.
• Provide Social Security with data on the net income of entrepreneurs and professionals held by the Tax Agency: This is a recent proposal motivated by the new Social Security contribution system for self-employed workers and freelancers, based on the income obtained. In this regard, some associations and colleges have suggested that certain economic data requested in the form prepared by Social Security are known to the Tax Administration and that, in order for social collaborators not to have to fill in said data, the Tax Agency could consider the possibility of sending them directly to the General Treasury of Social Security. The Tax Agency is therefore studying whether the request is feasible and exploring different avenues for its implementation.

Finally, the President of the Forum points out that she considers the proposals made by the associations and colleges to be reasonable and that the Tax Agency is working with the aim of facilitating the work of social collaborators. He also reiterated that the Tax Agency intends to continue promoting, together with tax professionals, an effective cooperative relationship model based on transparency and mutual trust.

2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on November 29, 2022

Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor, 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 twenty-second plenary session were sent to the associations and colleges prior to this meeting, and that no comments have been received; He adds that if there were none at this time, it would be definitively approved. Since no objections were raised, the minutes of the 22nd plenary session held on 29 November 2022 are hereby approved.

3. Information on the topics discussed in the working groups

The Director General of the Tax Agency then points out that the Forum's working groups met together on 21 April and, in order for the working groups in the Tax Management Department to comment on their activities, she gives the floor to its Director.

• Regarding the income tax campaign, the Deputy Director General of Tax Technology announced that the Virtual Income Tax Assistant was no longer limited to issues relating to property taxation and that the main issues raised by the campaign had been included (key dates, new features, forms of presentation, etc.). In addition, it was highlighted that this tool would be available to taxpayers throughout the year. The existence of the Income Tax Report was also recalled, which expanded on the topics covered in relation to the previous year and included regional issues. It was also reported that links to virtual tools had been included in Renta WEB so that they were more accessible in case any queries were required while completing the self-assessment.
• Regarding the Corporate Tax campaign, the new features introduced in the declaration forms were analysed in order to include the new boxes approved as a result of the regulatory changes. Thus:
  • In the section that includes agricultural and/or livestock activities, the net amount of the turnover must be recorded so that the Tax Agency can inform the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, thus facilitating the management of the CAP aid.
  • The information on the special dissolution and liquidation regime for the SICAV must be completed.
  • Certain entities under the income attribution regime are included as taxpayers of the Corporate Tax in order to correct hybrid asymmetries.
  • In the Special Regime for Ships and Shipping Companies in the Canary Islands, the information is broken down so that the offsetting of negative tax bases derived from the activities that generate the right to apply the special regime can be monitored, thus avoiding offsetting them with the positive bases generated by the rest of the entity's activities.
  • Start-ups must report the net amount of their turnover for the twelve months preceding the start date of the tax period.
  • Finally, the meeting also discussed, among other things, regulatory changes affecting deductions and minimum taxation.

The Director of the Tax Management Department also added that the following issues were also raised:

• The draft orders in process were discussed, highlighting that the modification of model 036 regarding the Registry of extractors of fiscal warehouses of products included in the objective areas of the Taxes on Alcohol and Derived Beverages or on Hydrocarbons had already been approved. Likewise, it was indicated that, in relation to SII , the modification that included a new key in “invoice types” of the book of invoices issued in the books was also already approved. VAT registration .
• Regarding form 718 “Temporary Solidarity Tax on Large Fortunes”, which is currently already approved and the deadline for submission for the 2022 financial year began on July 1, it was indicated at the meeting that it should only be submitted if the quota was positive.
• Regarding the approval of the modifications to the models relating to the special regime included in article 93 LIRPF (impatriates), it was clarified that it depended on the approval of the modification to the Regulations of IRPF .
• Associations and schools were asked whether any incidents had been detected with tax data during the income tax campaign, to which the response was that the Tax Agency had not observed any significant incidents.

To conclude her speech, the Director of the Tax Management Department pointed out that, at the proposal of the Forum's member entities, the following issues had been included in the agenda:

• In relation to the late payment interest paid by the Tax Agency which, in accordance with the recent ruling of the Supreme Court of January 12, 2023, must be included in the general base of the IRPF as capital gains, the associations and schools requested to know the content of the report issued by the General Directorate of Taxes on March 8, 2023, as well as clarifications on how this change in criteria affected previous years taking into account the principle of legitimate expectations. In this regard, Ms. Rosa María Prieto points out that, although these issues may not have been sufficiently clear on April 21, they are now resolved.
• Regarding IRPF , the question was asked what amount should be recorded as the acquisition value when calculating the capital gain from the transfer of a property, in the event of prior verification of said value by a regional Administration. It was replied that the Tax Agency was not bound by the actions of the regional Administration since, in the absence of further data from the file, the reference value would be applied.
• Another topic discussed was the requirements to justify certain income in bank accounts. Associations and schools commented on the problems they had with financial institutions to access bank statements from previous years and requested an improvement in the filters, so that transactions between accounts of the same holder would not be requested. For their part, the representatives of the Tax Agency responded that, normally, the operations are “netted” and requested the remission of the request in order to verify the reason for its issuance.

The Director of the Tax Information Technology Department then took the floor to point out that, with regard to electronic invoicing, at the meeting of the working groups, basically, the differences between the draft Regulation that develops article 29 of the General Tax Law and the establishment of the mandatory electronic invoice B2B included in Law 18/2022, of September 28, on the creation and growth of companies, were explained. Thus, the following was highlighted:

• In relation to the Draft Royal Decree approving the regulations establishing the requirements to be adopted by computer or electronic systems and programs that support the billing processes of entrepreneurs and professionals, and the standardization of billing record formats it was commented that it had been promoted by the Tax Agency and was pending the opinion of the Council of State. In addition, regarding its content, what was stated in previous meetings was reiterated:
  • It establishes the way in which computerized billing systems must comply with the legal requirements of integrity, conservation, accessibility, legibility, traceability and inalterability of records.
  • It promotes interoperability by adopting a standard electronic invoicing format common to all professionals and entrepreneurs, facilitating communications and exchanges of invoices automatically through their computer systems.
  • The option of sending billing records voluntarily and automatically through the “VERI*FACTU Systems” is enabled.
  • The entities that manufacture or develop the software assume responsibility for certifying that the computer system complies with the legal requirements.
• Regarding the mandatory nature of the electronic invoice B2B established in Law 18/2022, the following was commented:
  • The project has been promoted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation and one of its objectives is to reduce late payments.
  • It establishes that the future Spanish electronic invoice system is made up of private electronic invoice exchange platforms, complemented by the so-called “Public Electronic Invoicing Solution”.
  • As regards technical requirements, it sets up an interoperable system, based on the technical capacity of IT solutions and platforms to translate the different supported structured formats, as well as interconnected, since a platform has the obligation to interconnect with any other that requests it.
  • The invoice must contain, in addition to the data required by tax regulations, information relating to the payment thereof, since it is considered that greater transparency in this regard can favour the reduction of late payments in commercial relations, as well as greater compliance with the legally established payment deadlines.

However, Mr. José Borja points out that at the meeting it was mentioned that there were some problems, such as the cost of contracting a private platform, the difficulty of regulating interoperability, having to provide sensitive information to private entities, etc., and indicates that, in order to respond to the challenges posed, a joint solution has been reached with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation consisting of the creation of a public platform managed by the Tax Agency that offers basic electronic invoicing systems and also serves as an invoice repository. He also added that the public solution is voluntary, since the electronic billing service can be contracted through a private platform.

The Director General of the Tax Agency then offers the floor to those present in case they wish to make any comments.

José Castaño Semitiel, representative of the General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain asks whether the Tax Agency is going to issue requests to those who declare losses in the IRPF of the 2022 financial year derived from investments in Fórum Filatélico, or if, on the contrary, it has the information. The Director of the Tax Management Department replies that they are trying to gather all the information and that, if this is not possible, the necessary requests will be made. Secondly, Mr. José Castaño requests clarification regarding the checks that the Tax Agency is going to carry out in relation to compliance with the requirements for applying the deduction for the installation of solar panels, to which Ms. Rosa María Prieto responds that, with regard to the deduction for carrying out works to improve the energy efficiency of homes, the comparison is going to be carried out with the information provided by the Autonomous Communities, which does not imply that there are no cases in which the taxpayer is required to provide information or clarify any issue. Thirdly, the representative of the General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain points out that some clients have received communications about discrepancies in the Corporate Tax for the 2021 financial year in relation to tax data that, in the end, were not such. For her part, the Director of the Tax Management Department clarifies that the aim is to inform the taxpayer of any issues detected that may not be correct. Thus, when completing the IS , when the self-assessment is to be submitted, a series of “Notices” appear so that the taxpayer can review certain sections. In some cases, the Tax Agency believes that insufficient attention may have been paid to these notices and, for this reason, communications are issued; However, if after the review it is found that the data is correct, no modification is necessary.

Next, Mr. Adolfo Jiménez Ramírez, representative of the Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors, points out that the data on losses derived from investments in Fórum Filatélico should be in the possession of the Tax Agency, since he was one of the three bankruptcy administrators. He added that there is no problem with clients who have kept the documentation, but that those who do not have it are waiting for the Tax Agency to provide it to them. The Director of the Tax Management Department reiterates that efforts are being made to gather information.

Next, Mr. Joan Torres Torres, President of the Spanish Federation of Professional Associations of Tax Technicians and Tax Advisors, thanks the Director General of the Tax Agency for studying the proposals that tax professionals have been making. On the other hand, Mr. Joan Torres points out that, in relation to the requirements to justify income from bank transactions between accounts of the same holder, at the meeting of the working group the representatives of the Tax Agency indicated that, in any case, they were going to check it. So, he asks if there is any progress on this matter.

Ms. Rosa María Prieto answers that, indeed, the issue has been studied and that, in general, the movements are “cleaned up”. He adds that, however, it cannot be ruled out that there may be some specific cases in which this is not the case, given that the requests may be made by different departments and for different reasons.

Finally, Mr. Joan Torres states that, in Catalonia, when trying to cancel a self-assessment of the Wealth Tax and submit another one in its place, the regional Administration indicates that the information is held by the Tax Agency and that it will not be provided until November. For its part, the State Administration responds that the management of the tax is the responsibility of the autonomous communities. So, he asks if there is any way to solve these situations.

The Director of the Tax Management Department clarifies that, in the case of self-assessments, only a correction of the same or a supplementary self-assessment can be submitted, and there is no possibility of cancelling the original self-assessment and/or submitting a replacement. He adds that with the informative declarations, however, substitute can be submitted.

Isidoro García Millán, Special Delegate of the Special Delegation of Catalonia, explains that the tax is managed by the CCAA and that, indeed, there is a problem because the files are sent later. He adds that in the IRPF , within the scope of his Delegation, they have resolved the issue manually by establishing a system that allows the detection of corrections to self-assessments submitted and, as long as these are not resolved, the collection action of the first self-assessment is not initiated. He added that, for the moment, this solution is not applicable to the Wealth Tax.

To conclude this matter, Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor asks the Special Delegate to forward the specific case in order to find out whether it is also occurring in other territorial areas and to explore possible avenues for a solution. He also requests the referral of the system that is being applied in the Special Delegation to resolve the problem in relation to the IRPF .

Mr. José Castaño then points out that he wishes to reiterate the request made on previous occasions regarding the possibility of direct debiting supplementary declarations from previous years for the receipt of salary arrears, submitted within the deadline, as he considers that this is an important issue for tax professionals that would greatly facilitate this process. The Director of the Tax Collection Department, for her part, said that she understood the importance of this request and added that she was committed to analyzing it carefully, since, if there were no significant impediments, it could be implemented.

Mr. Rafael Gil March, representative of the General Council of the Spanish Bar Association, then stated that he also wished to reiterate that the system of prior appointments and assistance to tax professionals could be improved. He adds that they receive complaints from their members because they cannot get appointments on time, since the procedure for renewing an expired electronic signature is very complex and involves many difficulties.

The Director of the Tax Administration Department replies that, except for some specific incidents, special emphasis is placed on providing appointments as quickly as possible and, specifically, in relation to certificates, the deadline is two or three days. The Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service also added that the system requires all offices to ensure that taxpayers have their appointment within three days, to which Mr Rafael Gil replied that the Palma de Mallorca Administration does not comply with this deadline.

The Director General of the Tax Agency reports that the above-mentioned information regarding the Balearic Islands will be checked in order to resolve any incidents that may be occurring. Likewise, it indicates that, in relation to the second question raised, it is true that the procedure for recovering the NIF is complicated, but that it must be taken into account that a company is deregistered when there has been absolute neglect on the part of the company in the fulfillment of its obligations, ignoring any requests that may have been made by the Administration. For his part, Mr. Rafael Gil answers that an alternative formula could be sought, such as the granting of a provisional NIF .

To conclude his speech, the representative of the General Council of the Spanish Bar Association pointed out the problem that exists when completing Form 210 for non-resident taxpayers with more than one property, since it is necessary to obtain and present a large amount of information. The Tax Agency is therefore requesting that the simplification be studied.

Next, Mr. Arturo Jiménez Contento, representative of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF), intervened to indicate that, in relation to the information requests, in a meeting of the working groups of this Forum, the representatives of the Tax Agency reported that first of all the registration books were requested and, after their analysis, those invoices that could present some type of incident were requested. He adds that, especially in Catalonia, very generic requests are still being received, in which books, invoices, etc. are required from the outset.

Isidoro García Millán responds that, although there may be some exceptions, such requests are not currently issued, although he acknowledges that previously, specifically four years ago, in an office , some dysfunction in this regard did have to be corrected. He added that these incidents have also been brought to light by various associations, and that, after studying the specific cases that they have provided, it has been concluded that they were not initial requests.

Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor then asked those present to forward to the Technical Secretariat of the Forum any requests for information that deviate from the Tax Agency's instructions discussed above, in order to verify them and, where appropriate, correct them.

Since there were no further interventions, the Director General of the Tax Agency moved on to the next point on the agenda.

4. Provisional balance of the 2022 Income Tax campaign

The Director General of the Tax Agency gives the floor to the Director of the Tax Management Department, who, supporting her presentation with a power point presentation, points out that, from the 2022 income tax campaign compared to that of 2021, the following issues can be highlighted, although taking into account that they are still provisional data:

• Ways to access personalized Renta services: The reference number remains the most commonly used form (11,477,000), although a decrease in its use can be seen and an increase in the electronic certificate and the Cl@ve system of, respectively, around 20 and 24%, totalling almost nine million users. In relation to the Cl@ve system, it should be noted that one factor that has influenced the increase in its use is the informative campaign carried out in relation to it.
• Presentation routes:
  • Through Renta WEB: Its use has increased by 4.48%, and can be differentiated as follows:
    • The number of app downloads has increased by around 20% and the number of subscriptions to the app with identification has increased by around 14.71%. Filings via the application have increased by 23.64%, of which, without modifying the draft (with a single click), they have increased by 31.65%, and, with modification via Renta WEB, by around 4%.
    • The Internet is the channel most chosen by taxpayers, with an increase in its use of 3.61%.
    • The number of telephone presentations remains stable (around 1,070,000).
    • In-person service at the offices is now completely back to normal, with the number of presentations having increased by around 20%.
  • Through programs other than the Tax Agency: has increased by 1.90%, although in a lower proportion than the increase in the percentage of declarations submitted (3.89%) and that of Renta WEB (4.48%).
• Declarations submitted according to their result:
  • To pay: Although their number has decreased by around 4%, their value has increased by 8.32%.
  • Applications for refund: both their number (8.59%) and the amount of refund requested (16.46%) have increased.
  • Refusals and resignations: have decreased by around 4%.
• Access to the virtual tools of IRPF :
  • The number of accesses to the informant and the virtual assistant is practically the same (just over 421,000 to the first and 424,000 to the second).
  • Assessment of responses by taxpayers:
    • Positives: around 750,000, taking into account that this number also includes accesses that end without assessment and those that end at an intermediate stage.
    • Negatives: around 106,000, although the accesses that have ended with this assessment are around 56,000, since 38,000 queries have been diverted to the specialists of the ADI or, if the access has been through the Virtual Assistant, they have been directed to the Income Informant (12,000).

The Director General of the Tax Agency then gives the floor to those present and, since no one speaks, moves on to the next point on the agenda.

5. Rectifying self-assessments

Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor states that the proposed amendment is currently being processed and clarifies that the objective of the reform is in no case to prevent or limit the right to appeal or to sanction conduct that was not punishable until now. He then gives the floor to Ms. Rosa María Prieto.

The Director of the Tax Administration Department adds that the reform of the rectification procedure has been requested for many years, both by the Administration and by taxpayers and their advisors. Thus, it indicates that, currently, there are two ways to rectify a self-assessment (submission of a supplementary one or a rectification request), and that numerous complaints are received by taxpayers because they do not fully differentiate between them. On the other hand, she points out that, without taking into account the impact produced by exceptional cases such as the Supreme Court ruling in relation to maternity benefit, in the period 2018 - 2022 around 500,000 rectifications have been made, of which between 80 and 85% have been resolved totally or partially in favor of the taxpayer, since in most cases they were small errors, such as deductions not applied, degree of disability that has not been taken into account, ... Thus, Ms. Rosa María Prieto points out that the fundamental objective of the regulatory modification is to simplify and speed up the procedure, above all, for this 80 - 85% of cases, which constitute the bulk of the rectifications. On the other hand, he adds that he wishes to elaborate on what the Director General has stated in relation to the fact that in no case will actions that are currently not punishable be sanctioned, which does not imply that there will not be cases in which the sanctioning procedure will have to be applied in the face of abusive conduct that seeks to pervert the regulatory framework. For illustrative purposes, he adds that, in the case of IRPF , rectification requests can currently be made through Renta WEB and, as far as we know, no penalties have been processed. It also indicates that in the current Income Tax campaign, 80% of refund requests have already been processed, which does not mean that the Tax Agency is limiting itself to issuing refunds without applying any type of risk analysis, this being precisely the reason why there are 20% of requests not issued, since they have to be subject to more detailed attention. In this regard, the Director of the Tax Management Department points out that, of course, the new rectification system will also have a risk analysis by the Tax Agency, which, on the other hand, is already working, and that in no case is it an objective of the regulatory modification to make the refunds automatically in order to subsequently initiate a check and, if necessary, apply the corresponding sanction. On the other hand, he indicated that in the various meetings held with different groups, some specific issues had been raised, mainly technical, but these reluctance in relation to the application of sanctions had not been made clear. Finally, he indicated that with the new procedure, most of the rectifications will be processed more quickly, since, as he commented, in 80-85% of cases, there are no discrepancies with the data held by the Administration.

Next, Mr Carlos Gómez Jiménez, Deputy Director General of Taxes, spoke, pointing out that the draft legislation is not a temporary reaction, as it has been under study for some time. He reiterated that the intention of the regulatory change is to simplify and speed up the rectification procedures and that, at no time, has there been any interest in imposing sanctions. He added that in the event of a legal discrepancy, Article 179.3 of Law 58/2003, General Tax Law, would apply, so there would be no changes in this matter. On the other hand, the Deputy Director General of Taxes explains that in the process of public hearing and information, the project has not had many participants, although the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF) has presented a report, in his opinion, quite balanced, which will be studied by the Ministry and the Tax Agency, in order to analyze whether it is possible to accommodate the observations made in the text.

Next, Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada, representative of the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors, takes the floor to indicate that at AEDAF we do not judge spirits, intentions or objectives which, on the other hand, are considered more than laudable. He adds that, however, the chosen medium and its possible outcome cause them some concern. The Court notes that the regulatory amendment is seen as favourable to taxpayers, as it speeds up and simplifies procedures, but that it must be taken into account that it also introduces the risk of a posteriori control which, in its opinion, may lead to the taxpayer losing his right to disagree, at least on the same terms that currently exist. He also notes that this perception is shared by other associations, regardless of whether they have made comments or not. Finally, Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada thanks Mr. Carlos Gómez for his assessment of the AEDAF report and adds that he trusts that it will indeed be incorporated into the regulatory modification, so that the taxpayer's right to both rectification and discrepancy is facilitated.

Next, Ms. Esther Luque Sánchez, representative of the Registry of Tax Advisors, points out that, indeed, the regulatory project will allow the process to be expedited for the majority of taxpayers, although, with the current system, when a rectification is submitted there is the perception that the Administration checks it before accepting it, which means that no infringement is committed that could be punishable. However, with the regulatory change, the possibility arises that in a subsequent control the Tax Agency may disagree, which could lead to some type of sanction. Thus, the representative of REAF indicates that, possibly, only a small part of the rectifications that are presented will be affected, but that it would be desirable for the text of the regulatory modification to provide, in some way, greater speed in the procedure, but without including the possibility of incurring sanctions. Finally, Ms. Esther Luque asks whether it will be necessary to provide supporting documentation when submitting the corrective self-assessment.

The General Director of the AEAT responds that it will not be necessary. He also comments that the proposals and concerns of the social collaborators are clear and adds that, given that at no time has it been the intention of the Administration to increase the sanctions in this matter, an analysis will be made of whether there is any way that, in some way, contributes to eliminating suspicions and introducing greater tranquility in this regard.

6. Next call

Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor stated that the intention was to maintain the semi-annual frequency of the meetings, noting in this regard that the next meeting would foreseeably be held in November. On the other hand, he indicates that, as soon as the list of proposals and requests that the schools and associations have been presenting and that are still pending implementation is finalized, it will be sent to the members of the Forum in case they wish to add any other issue or make any comments or observations. He also said that prior to the plenary session, meetings of the working groups will also be convened, in which, among other matters, work will continue to make progress on all these pending issues, some of which have been pending for quite some time.

The Director General of the Tax Agency then comments that, as all members of the Forum know, in compliance with the commitments made by the Government of Spain in Component 27 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, it is planned to send to the European Commission a final report on the results of the application of Law 11/2021, on the prevention and fight against tax fraud. Thus, in the 4th quarter of 2023, the Tax Agency must prepare an evaluation in relation to said application, which would also reflect the possible improvements to be introduced in the tax regulations. For this purpose, Ms. Soledad Fernández Doctor requests the collaboration of the members of the Forum and indicates that the Technical Secretariat of the Forum will send them an email to this effect. Finally, he wishes to thank in advance the associations and schools for their collaboration in this task.

7. Other considerations, requests and questions

The President of the Forum then moves on to the 7th point on the agenda and offers the floor to those present.

First of all, Mr. Adolfo Jiménez intervened to comment that, although, in his opinion, the problem of notifications on weekends is solved without any significance by not opening the mail until Monday, the same does not occur with notifications received in the month of August, which forces small offices to not be able to enjoy vacations, since they cannot always get all their clients to request courtesy days in that month. He therefore requested that, with regard to the issue of the advertisements, the possibility of not issuing them on weekends be studied, since when this is proposed it will be because some group is affected, as well as not issuing them in the month of August. On the other hand, it also points out the problem that exists in relation to salaried workers, normally with low salaries, who change payers in a financial year, for which reason they are obliged to present the IRPF declaration and this is usually to be paid. He adds that a typical example is the case of cleaning staff who are affected mid-year by a subrogation due to a change of company and who the following year cannot afford the payment resulting from the IRPF declaration, deciding not to file it. In this regard, he points out that this situation causes harm to the public treasury since, normally, the amount owed cannot be seized or, if it can, it is only for a small amount. Thus, it suggests as a solution that it should be mandatory that, in the month following the change of payer, the employee be able to obtain the certificate of withholdings and remuneration received and, in turn, that the second payer take it into account when calculating the withholdings.

The Director General of the Tax Agency, in relation to the first question raised, asks the department heads to issue as few notices as possible in August, adding that, however, it is a complicated issue and that many of the notifications are favourable to the interested party. Likewise, with regard to the proposal to establish the obligation to issue a withholding certificate by the first payer, he indicates that it will be studied, since, although there is the possibility that the worker may request the second payer to apply a higher withholding rate, in many cases this possibility is unknown by the taxpayer.

Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada then takes the floor to announce that, given that there are no days of courtesy in the contentious-administrative process, they will direct the request to the presidency of TEAC to incorporate this tool for the notifications they issue. He adds that the reason for announcing this in this Forum is in case the associations and colleges present wish to join this request, since the notifications from the economic-administrative courts in the month of August introduce a lot of pressure on social collaborators in the performance of their duties. On the other hand, it also refers to the fact that AEDAF , as the Tax Agency already knows, has challenged Instructions 1 and 2 of 2023 of the Collection Department, since they understand that there has been a substantial modification of the rule in relation to the statu quo previo en materia de aplazamientos y fraccionamientos, utilizando un procedimiento inadecuado que, asimismo, atribuye a la Agencia Tributaria una interpretación unilateral sobre si las condiciones han cambiado o no, a modo de cláusula rebus sic stantibus. Finally, Mr. Javier Gómez Taboada adds that AEDAF understands that the instructions are appealable given their nature, the type of modification they introduce and the innovations they include (valuation of guarantees, etc.), since, in his opinion, they are detrimental to the taxpayer.

Next, Ms. Pilar Otero Moar, representative of the General Council of Colleges of Administrative Managers of Spain, points out that she wishes to highlight an issue that, in her opinion, is difficult to resolve, and that affects the declaration of IRPF of separated spouses with minor children and shared custody. Thus, it indicates that, in those cases in which personal communication between the parents is null and they do not know whether the other is filing a joint declaration with one of the minors or whether they have applied 50% of the minimum for descendants, inconsistencies often occur that subsequently give rise to liquidations by the Tax Agency, even in the event that one of the ex-spouses is failing to comply with the economic obligations established in the regulatory agreement with respect to their descendants. He adds that there are already court rulings that address the de facto situation and requests that the Tax Agency and the General Directorate of Taxes study the issue and try to devise some mechanism to prevent these incidents from occurring.

The representatives of the Tax Agency at the meeting responded that, indeed, there is no simple solution to the issue, since the legislation on personal data protection prevents any information about the data entered in a declaration from being provided to anyone other than the taxpayer.

Mr. José Castaño then reports on the problems that exist with the withholdings of professionals and, in particular, with those of notaries and registrars, since they issue a considerable number of invoices and the recipient does not always pay the withholding made. He adds that this fact produces differences between what is reported by the professional and the charges, which give rise to requests for documentation by the Tax Agency which, once examined, usually end up giving the taxpayer the benefit of the doubt. The representative of the General Council of Official Colleges of Social Graduates of Spain points out that this issue has already been raised previously in this Forum and, at the time, it was proposed that the withholdings from notaries and registrars be eliminated since this is a group that, in his opinion, should not have any problem in paying 20% in the corresponding quarterly self-assessment. He also indicates that he understands that when the withholding is for a small amount, the Tax Agency does not require the person obliged to pay it, so that the person most affected by the withholdings that are not paid is the public treasury. On the other hand, he points out that, changing the subject, he wishes to state that he considers the organisation of information days by groups in the Tax Agency delegations to be a good initiative, such as the one that took place recently in Murcia with the Social Graduates and in which, by the way, in the last meeting the issue relating to the procedure for refunding the Tax on non-reusable plastic containers was discussed. He added that it was clarified that an Excel file had to be created and copies of the invoices and proof of payment of the tax had to be attached to the refund request for verification and analysis by the Tax Agency. He points out that, in his opinion, this manual and non-computerised procedure generates a considerable workload for both the Administration and tax professionals.

Ms. Pilar Jurado Borrego, Director of the Customs and Excise Department, replies that she agrees that refund requests entail a considerable administrative burden, although the point is that the taxpayer's own computer system should collect the information at a level of breakdown that allows the spreadsheet to be automatically generated. He added that the processing of tax refunds is set out in the Law and that, internally, different avenues are being explored in order to find a formula that would facilitate the task for both the Administration and the taxpayer.

Since there are no new interventions, the Director General of the State Tax Administration Agency thanks those attending for their presence and participation and closes the twenty-third session of the plenary session of the Forum of Associations and Colleges of Tax Professionals.