Explanatory notes and sources

The analysis scheme: Tax bases, effective rates, accrued taxes and tax revenues

The basic structure of the analysis of the tax revenues (IT) carried out in this report is based on the following identity:

It = BI * RD/BI * IT/RD,

Where BI is the tax base, RD is the tax collection accrued by it, RD/BI is the average effective rate and IT/RD a ratio that collects the offsets between the accrual and the payment date. This expression condenses the process of generating tax revenues. First, there is a current of goods, services, income, etc., subject to taxation (BI), to which a rate is applied (RD/BI), resulting in the collection accrued (RD). The tax collection process (IT/RD) is then initiated, which determines the tax payment at a time in general subsequent to the accrual.

This identity summarizes the analysis method used both in its numerical and graphic information and in the accompanying comments. Tax revenues are reported, but attempts are made to identify the latest causes of their variations through the analysis of the three components of the identity, the gross tax base, the effective rate and the adjustment between accrual and the cash flow.

Taxable bases

The basic source of information on the taxable bases are the annual statistics available on the Tax Agency website (Statistics). The data for the years for which the corresponding statistics have not yet been published have been estimated using the information available from the same sources that are used for the preparation of these publications; This is therefore provisional data.

The demographics shown in the report's tables also derive in most of the annual statistics, which guarantees a consistent evolution of the population of taxpayers and of the taxable bases in each of the taxes. These figures may differ in some cases from those contained in the Tax Agency Report, which are based on different criteria for drafting in terms of the scope and at the time of registration.

Accrued taxes

The basic core of the Tax Agency's tax management procedure is a system of self-assessed tax returns. The system means that taxpayers obliged to declare according to the regulations of each of the taxes must determine the tax debt (self-assessment) to while they present a self-assessment tax return, which contains the tax return form code, the accrual period, the taxpayer's identification and the result of the settlement that the taxpayer calculates based on economic and personal data.

The accrued taxes are calculated basically by aggregating those tax return-self-assessment models presented by the taxpayers. Gross accrued taxes are obtained by adding, for each tax return form, the amounts of the tax returns whose result is in favour of the Public Treasury, regardless of the moment when they have been paid. Net accrued taxes are the result of deducting the gross tax amounts from the tax returns in which the balance is in favour of the taxpayer and entitles the taxpayer to request a refund.

The data of the self-assessed tax returns are supplemented by the information from the informative models, which are those models that, without a liquidating nature, summarise and complement the content of the periodic tax returns, and whose purpose is to control the correct fulfilment of the tax obligations. These models are used, for example, to allocate withholdings on movable capital, leases and investment funds among the different tax figures (Personal Income Tax, Corporation Tax and Non-Residents'Income Tax).

By definition, the accrued taxes are consistent with the taxable bases (income, profits, sales and consumption) declared in the models. Therefore, the effective tax rate for each tax figure is the quotient between the net accrued tax and the taxable base.

Accrued taxes are subject to changes even years after the reference year has ended, since taxpayers can submit their tax return-self-assessments after the deadline, whether voluntary or required by the Administration. Therefore, the figures of the accrued taxes that appear in the report in the last two years are provisional.

Tax revenue

Tax revenues are cash deposits and are expressed, unless otherwise indicated, in liquid terms, i.e. as a difference between gross income and refunds made. This measure of income is in accordance with the Accounting Instruction of the General State Administration Intervention (IGAE). The figures are comparable to those included in the Tax Administration Report, whose source is the IGAE.

There is an equivalence between self-assessments that are behind the accrued taxes and the concepts of the Tax Agency's Accounting Information System, from which the revenue figures are extracted in cash terms. Each self-assessment has a different model assigned according to the type of tax and the type of taxpayer in question. The Accounting Information System, for its part, associates each model or group of models to one or more budgetary keys. This equivalence between tax return models and budgetary concepts allows the tax collection currents to be associated with relevant categories of taxpayers (Public Administrations, Large companies, SMEs, consolidated groups and others) and, ultimately, with the economic flows that have led to the tax obligation. Even so, there may be differences in the criteria for classifying the collection flows between the tax return models and the budgetary concepts. One example of these differences is the allocation of withholdings on movable capital, leases and investment funds between the different figures (Personal Income Tax, Corporation Tax and Non-Residents Income Tax): In the taxes accrued, the assignment is made according to the legal personality of the taxpayer (natural, legal, non-resident), while it is carried out with fixed percentages between the different figures.

In 2017 and 2018, the tax revenue is presented, in some cases, corrected by the impact of the Immediate Supply of Information (SII) system on VAT in those years. The introduction of this management system led to a shift in income from 2017 to 2018. In order to obtain homogeneous series over time that allow the proper measurement of growth, the most relevant series are corrected from that shift. The correction is made in annual terms, which may cause small discrepancies with the figures published in the monthly collection reports in which the correction is made month by month to provide a good measure of the monthly variation.

The income analysis in this report is carried out in total terms, i.e. before deducting the holdings to which the Regional Administrations (Autonomous Communities and Local Corporations) have the right, in accordance with the territorial funding system. This share is made effective in each of the years, basically through payments on account and final settlements for the financial year. t-2 The detailed information on these investments can be found in Tables 7,3, 7,4 and 7,5 of the report, as well as the State's income after these investments have been reduced (Table 7,7). In addition, information on the relationships with Regional Treasuries is also provided in Table 7,6.

The budgetary scope of the tax revenues analysed in the report covers Chapter I (except for liability fees), Chapter II and the fees and other tax revenues (which contain the surcharges, penalties and interest) of Chapter III. A complete overview of the state's non-financial income, including non-tax revenues, can be found in Table 7,8.

The report also presents tables of the tax revenues in terms of recognised rights (Table 7,10 and Annex: Rights recognised). With regard to cash deposits, recognised rights exclude closed year deposits and include the outstanding tax payment rights. They are also included in the aforementioned Accounting Instruction.

Tax revenue by Delegations

In the Annex: Delegation income shows the information on the tax revenue distributed among the 56 Delegations (grouped, where applicable, in Special Delegations) and the Central Services.

Since the assignment of taxpayers by Delegations is made according to their tax address, the tax revenues of a Delegation are not necessarily a good indicator of the tax importance of the territory or of the economic activity in the same. Nor is the annual change in tax revenues managed by a Delegation a suitable sign of the tax dynamism or tax collection of the territory. The issues caused by the change in the tax address of taxpayers (especially when it is a large company) or by the merger and absorption processes of companies are linked to disturbances that may affect revenue throughout the territory. In addition, in some tax figures, such as Special Taxes, the revenue may be allocated either to the Delegation in which the tax deposit for which the product is sold, or centrally in the Delegation where the company that owns the deposit is domiciled.