4.1.4. Collaboration of the Tax Agency with jurisdictional bodies

The Tax Agency performs the duty of collaboration with the jurisdictional bodies, established in Articles 118 of the Spanish Constitution and 17.1 of the Judiciary Act, by way of various functions, including judicial assistance and expert testimony in lawsuits for offence against the Public Treasury, the supply of telematic and customised tax information to jurisdictional bodies and to the Public Prosecutor's Office and the exercise of the function of judicial police by Customs Surveillance officials.

This collaboration is implemented, basically, in the following ways:

Support unit for the Anti-Corruption Office

The Tax Agency has a Support Unit for the Special Prosecutor's Office against Corruption and Organised Crime (Anti-Corruption Office), whose function consists in executing the reports, audits and activities required of it by the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Prosecutor's Office or the Public Prosecutor. This Unit reports organically and functionally to the Directorate-General of the Tax Agency and is equipped and financed by the Agency.

Collaboration in the field of offences against the Public Treasury

• Actions prior to the initiation of criminal proceedings:

  The verification activities carried out by the Tax Agency via the inspection procedure can reveal facts which may constitute offences against the Public Treasury. In such a case, once the Tax Agency's action has been completed, a detailed report is then drafted by the clerk of the court and the corresponding charges and prosecutions are submitted.

  Additionally, the Tax Agency also presents charges for the existence of indications of tax fraud following the performance of investigations by the inspection bodies, without a verification procedure having been commenced.

  In 2017, 225 reports were filed for tax crimes, corresponding with a charge of 327.83 million euros and 59 reports of money laundering, corresponding with a charge of 64.24 million euros.

• Actions during criminal proceedings:

  During criminal proceedings the Tax Agency receives many requests for collaboration from jurisdictional bodies, either via judicial assistance or via expert testimony, in cases of offences against the Public Treasury, a matter in which its officials are fully competent.

  The following table of the Appendix shows the data related to the number of officials who have collaborated in judicial assistance:

For 2017, the calculation of experts and judicial officers was carried out through a new procedure, such that the historical data series cannot be maintained. From now on, cases in which the officer participates are not considered, but rather the different officers that participate in this activity. In this regard, the officers that now feature in the statistics can put forward multiple files and count as a single officer, whilst the previous system noted down one officer for each different action. In any case, and to facilitate comparisons, a piece of data from 2016 has been obtained applying the new criteria in force from 2017.

In addition, the court clerks who have reports on tax offences, the basis of the charges presented by the Tax Agency, participate in the criminal proceedings, ratifying these reports, either in the examination phase or in oral hearing, as witnesses.

• Actions to ensure the possible financial liabilities declared in the criminal proceedings:

  Following the modifications introduced into the General Taxation Act (hereinafter, LGT) by Act nº 7/2012, the Tax Agency can adopt precautionary measures to guarantee any possible liabilities which may be declared in the judicial process, both before the initiation of the proceeding (Section 81.5 LGT) and after the presentation of charges for offences against the Public Treasury (Section 81.8 LGT), in which case they must be submitted to the judge.

  The precautionary measures adopted in 2015, 2016, and 2017 within the framework of the provisions of articles 81.5 and 81.8 LGT are shown in table nº 31. Number of precautionary measures (articles 81.5 and 81.8 LGT) of the Annex.

  Furthermore, the collection bodies of the Tax Agency maintain the competence to investigate, under the supervision of the judicial authority, the assets that may be affected by the payment of pecuniary amounts associated with the crime (Additional Provision 19 LGT).

• Actions in the enforcement of criminal sentences:

  In accordance with the provisions of Additional Provision 10 of the General Tax Law, and in article 305.7 of the Penal Code, after the reform carried out by Organic Law 7/2012, the Tax Agency assists judges and courts in the execution of the convictions for crimes against the Public Treasury, demanding through the enforcement procedure the penalty of a fine and the civil liability declared in the sentence.

Collaboration in other judicial processes.

The Tax Agency's officials carry out other collaboration tasks in judicial processes, acting as judicial administrators, valuation architects, liquidators, receivers or trustees in bankruptcy.

Supply of information

The Collaboration Agreement of 7 September 2010 between the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the Ministry of Justice and the Tax Agency, with regard to transfer of tax information by the Agency to the Courts and Tribunals, allows the jurisdictional bodies direct access to the Tax Agency's databases, by way of telematic connection (web service ) via the Judicial Neutral Point managed by the CGPJ within the framework defined by the Tax Agency. In addition, for the cases not included in the agreement, individual requests for information are processed.

In 2017, 11,476 judicial requests for individual tax information were processed; almost 46 reports per business day. With regard to accesses to the Judicial Neutral Point (PNL, for its initials in Spanish), the trend from previous years has been recovered, reaching a figure of 9,058,531 accesses. It is considered that one of the causes for the decrease in 2016 was the increase in judicial requests for information, which doubled compared to 2015, going from 3,700 to 8,169 requests. The largest increase was recorded in those received from the PNJ (1,047 in 2015 against 4,071 in 2016), but requests filed in Tax Agency registry offices or by mail also increased significantly.

The relevant data in relation to the supply of information is set out in the following table of the Appendix: