3.1. Gross tax collection

The gross amount of tax collected comprises the effective incomes obtained in the fiscal year from both the self-assessment tax returns filed by taxpayers and from the settlements carried out by the Tax Agency. It is therefore set on a cash basis.

The total gross collection managed by the Tax Agency in 2020 reached 248,347 million euros, 18,377 million less than that achieved in the same period of the previous year (6.9 percent decrease).

The year was marked by the pandemic that hampered economic activity and, with it, the evolution of the aggregate tax base, the main element when explaining the behavior of gross income. A drop of close to 8 percent is estimated for the tax bases of the main taxes. However, there are other factors that positively affected the annual evolution of gross income, such as the existence of extraordinary income and the impact of some regulatory and management changes in 2019 that affect the rate of variation between both years.

All indicators of economic evolution showed the same profile, both the general ones (GDP, affiliates), and those coming from tax information (daily sales of the SII and sales, employment and salaries in tax returns). The slowdown trend inherited from 2019 was radically altered in the second half of March when the state of alarm and home confinement were declared. This caused a sharp drop in activity that translated, in the second quarter, into the loss of around 25 percent of the turnover that Large Companies and corporate SMEs had a year before. As the most severe measures were relaxed, these losses moderated. In June and July the recovery occurred with intensity, but since August the trend stabilized, and only from November onwards could new improvements be observed, although insufficient to reach positive rates.

If we look at gross income by figures, personal income tax collection increased by 0.5 percent, a rate that stands out as positive for all the main figures. The reason for this behavior in such an unfavorable context is found in the compensating role of public salaries and pensions with high growth throughout the year, and, to a lesser extent, the result of the gross annual declaration and withholdings for savings funds. investment. In the rest of the income (withholdings from work in the private sector, installment payments from personal companies, withholdings for income from movable capital and leases) the decrease was a reflection of the general situation.

Corporate Tax revenues decreased by 16.5 percent. The main component of the tax, installment payments, experienced a drop of close to 25 percent, in line with the drop in benefits and bases. This significant drop was partially offset by the existence of extraordinary income and the more moderate decline in most of the rest of the components, especially the result of the gross annual declaration (-1.2 percent).

In the Non-Resident Income Tax, income also registered a drop, in this case of 27.5 percent, mainly due to the negative results in income from movable capital.

Gross VAT revenues decreased by 9.4 percent, in line with the evolution of sales and inflation. Significant falls were recorded both in the income of Large Companies and imports (-10.1 percent) and in SMEs (-8.1 percent, including income from deferrals, especially high this year as a result of measures aimed at facilitating compliance with tax obligations of taxpayers, especially SMEs).

In Special Taxes, revenues were 11.6 percent lower than those registered in 2019. Collection fell in all figures, but, with regard to the three most significant figures, the most important drop was that of the Hydrocarbon Tax (-14.9 percent). Its trajectory was parallel to that of activity and consumption, accentuated in the last part of the year by limitations on mobility. In the Electricity Tax, which is linked to the same variables, income decreased, but with less intensity (-10.1 percent) as some of the restrictive measures affected it less. In the Tax on Tobacco Products, the decrease in income was not new (it is the fourth year in which it has occurred), although it did so at a greater rate (-3.2 percent) than in previous years.

Finally, the gross collection from Chapter III of Fees and other income decreased by 18.8 percent. In the case of Rates, the drop was 16 percent and was due to lower revenues in the Canon from the use of continental waters for the production of electrical energy that is settled one year late.

Table 12. Total gross tax collection l New window (Annex).