1. INTRODUCTION

The Tax Agency is a public law institution appointed to the Public Treasury and Public Administrations through the State Secretariat for the Treasury. It was created by the State Budget Law for 1991 and it was effectively constituted on the 1st of January 1992. The Tax Agency has its own legal regime that grants it a certain autonomy on the subject of personnel and budgetary management.

The Tax Agency is responsible for the effective application of the national tax and customs systems, and for those resources belonging to other State Public Administrations and the European Union which are entrusted to it for management by law or agreement; however, it has no authority for the preparation and interpretation of tax regulations.

The main indicator of its activity is tax collection. In net terms, that is, after paying the appropriate refunds, the tax collected in 2015 amounted to 182,009 million euros, 4% more than in the previous year. Furthermore, the tax collected through activities for the prevention and control of tax and customs fraud amounted to 15,664 million euros. These details are reflected in the following chart:

A part of the tax collected is assigned to the Autonomous Communities under a common regime. Law 22/2009, of 18 December, which governs the finance system for the Autonomous Communities under joint government and Cities with Autonomy Statutes, and which amended a series of tax regulations, gives to the Autonomous Communities under joint government the total or partial income produced in their territory of a series of tributes managed by the Tax Agency. Particularly, as of 31 December 2015, the following collection percentages were obtained:

• Personal Income Tax: 50 per cent ⁽¹⁾
• Value Added Tax: 50 per cent
• Excise Taxes
  • Beer Tax: 58 per cent
  • Wine and Fermented Drinks Tax: 58 per cent
  • Tax on Intermediate Products: 58 per cent
  • Tax on alcohol and alcoholic beverages: 58 per cent
  • Tax on Hydrocarbons: 58% (general state rate); 100% (special state rate)
  • Tax on Tobacco Products: 58 per cent
  • Electricity Tax: 100%

The Special Tax on Certain Means of Transport and the Autonomous Community rate of the Hydrocarbons Tax, assigned 100%, are distributed individually to the Autonomous Communities by the Tax Agency, according to the assessments and self-assessments actually made. The State's tax collection figures do not include the revenues for these two items.

In addition to these assigned taxes, the Tax Agency also distributes to the Autonomous Community regions the tax revenues from the following items:

• 100% of the revenues from the Gaming Activities Tax, corresponding to certain types of games played electronically, using computers or online, in accordance with article 48.11 and transitory provision six of the Gaming Regulation Act no. 13/2011 of 27 May.
• 100% of revenues from the Tax on Deposits in Credit Institutions, pursuant to article 19.14 of Act 16/2012 of 27 December, through which various tax measures aimed at consolidating the public finances and boosting economic activity were adopted.

Revenues from these two items are not included in the State tax collection figures.

The following charts show a series of key data which complement an initial vision of the Tax Agency:

^[1]In the Personal Income Tax, they are given the net regional tax and other concepts in the conditions indicated in article 26.2 of Law 22/2009. It could be approximately indicated that at present 50 per cent is given, a percentage that could vary depending the regulatory capacity of the Autonomous Communities.