4.1.3. Collection phase

The Tax Agency carried out a wide range of activities cast leading to the collection of the tax debts and penalties deriving from the application of the state's tax and customs system, in addition to those deriving from the other public resources whose management it assumes pursuant to an Act or Agreement.

In these activities, in both the voluntary and enforcement periods, it is necessary to use all the mechanisms provided by the legal system for enforced collection.

In the enforcement period the Tax Agency manages both the debts originated by the application of taxes for which it is responsible and which have not been paid in the voluntary period, and the public revenues of other institutions or public bodies whose management has been entrusted by an Act or Agreement.

In 2014 the Tax Agency has chosen to intensify the most qualified operations for the fight against fraud in the tax collection phase.

Evolution of outstanding debt

The collection management of tax debts consists in the exercise of administrative functions leading to collection. It includes a series of activities such as wealth investigation, the adoption of precautionary measures, the execution of liability assignment agreements and all those provided for in the General Revenue Collection Regulations subject to the periods established in the tax legislation, all addressed to the collection of tax debts, although they do not necessarily signify the collection of the debt.

Until the tax debts are extinguished, by payment, compensation or the other legally provided means, they are considered “outstanding.” However, within the outstanding debts it is necessary to distinguish between those in which there are cases of suspension, postponement or bankruptcy proceedings, which are not payable while they remain in that situation, from the rest of the pending debts, with respect to which the collection bodies They deploy all the powers provided for in the legal system.

The amount outstanding at the end of each year is the result of adding to the amount outstanding at the start of that year the outstanding debts originated in the current year, called “annual debit," and subtracting any cancellations made in the year, either for revenue obtained as a consequence of collection activities or for other legally established causes.

The outstanding amount at 31 December 2014 was 50,226 million euros. In contrast with the outstanding amount at the end of 2013 (50,174 million), the increase was zero (0.1%) for the first time in 15 years.

The following tables in the Annex show, respectively, the evolution of the outstanding debt at the end of each of the years included in the period 1996-2014 and the breakdown of the outstanding debt:

With regard to the debt in enforcement period, during 2014, the total amount of the debts subject to surcharge was 12,585 million euros. The debts originated by the application of the taxes which are under the competence of the Tax Agency amounted to 9,553.4 million euros and those of other entities to 3,031.5 million euros. In another aspect, debts were cancelled for a value of 10,197.1 million euros.

The principal magnitudes relating to the collection phase are shown in the tables listed below in the Annex:

Debts managed by the Tax Agency

Debts originated by the application of taxes which are the competence Tax Agency subject to surcharge in 2014 amounted to 9,553.4 million euros, 76% of the total. This debt comes both from settlements carried out by the Tax Agency and from self-assessments filed by the taxpayers without admission or with failed deferments.

During 2014, in order to achieve the actual collection of the assessments carried out as consequence of the control tasks, the wealth investigation activities were increased very perceptibly (81%). In this respect, 43,476 actions were carried out regarding registry information on assets and activities, along with 3,885 on-site inspections, with the purpose of verifying the economic or capital activity, the valuation of buildings or the opening of safe deposit boxes, among others, and 28,596 information requirements, of which 17,522 were investigations of funds to detect false insolvencies, which signified quadrupling the investigations carried out in 2012.

In addition, in order to prevent and fight against asset stripping by debtors, and with the same purpose of increasing the possibilities of actual collection of liquidated debts, the adoption of precautionary seizure measures continued to be strengthened in cases in which there are indications that the collection of the debt may be frustrated or seriously impeded via liability assignments as a mechanism for transferring the debt payment from one taxpayer to another, when, in view of non-payment by the first, the cases provided for in the Law occur. In this way, liability assignment agreements (deflection to third parties different from the principal debtor) increased by 31%, reaching 15,374 actions, thus tripling the number of assignment agreements registered in 2011. In turn, a total of 3,624 precautionary measures were taken (14.2% more than in 2013) to avoid asset stripping. Of that total, 1,762 precautionary measures were carried out, taking advantage of the new tools offered by the 2012 Anti-Fraud Act (Act nº 7/2012), for an amount of more than 1,000 million euros, 71% more than the previous year.

In Table 31. shows the results obtained with the precautionary measures and liability assignments and their variation rate in 2013 and 2014 (Annex).

At the same time, the Agency increased by 40% the agreements to prohibit the disposal of properties belonging to companies with impounded shares due to non-payment of tax debts, which are also a tool in the fight against fraud in the tax collection phase which was included in Act nº 7/2012.

Management of debt of other entities

In 2014, the Tax Agency managed debts during the enforcement period proceeding from 130 external bodies (Ministerial Departments, Autonomous Bodies, Autonomous Communities, Local Entities and other public entities). The largest percentage of debt to be managed corresponds to Ministerial Departments (51.14%), followed by Autonomous Communities (29.01%) and Autonomous Bodies (17.45%).

In 2014, the amount of the debt subject to enforcement surcharge reached 2,031.5 million euros, which must be added to the debt pending management at 31 December 2013 for the amount of 3,600.186 million.