3.2.2. Evolution of income from Corporate Tax

Income from Corporate Tax totaled 32,176 million and increased by 20.8% in 2022. The main cause of the increase in revenue was the positive performance of profits in both 2022 and 2021. It is estimated that in 2022 profits will grow around 19% for all companies and around 17% in Large Companies and groups. In line with this evolution, installment payments grew by 17.6% in 2022 (the growth is somewhat greater when the extraordinary income that existed then is eliminated from 2021). The increase was even across all types of companies, although it must be taken into account that last year's extraordinary income was concentrated in the groups, so, if this is taken into account, the growth in payments was significantly higher in these. If those groups where payments increased the most in 2022 are analyzed, the predominance corresponds to groups in the banking and energy sectors.

Regarding the profits for the year 2021, which grew by 35.9%, they are behind the 41.7% increase in the income of the annual declaration, although those that come from the settlement of the 2021 financial year rose above of 45%. Such high rates are due to the poor results of 2020, but the 2022 figures are also better than those recorded before the pandemic.

Another result of the 2021 annual declaration was the high amount of refund requests, around 11,600 million, which represents an increase of more than 5,000 million compared to those requested in the previous year. The reason for this increase is found in the level that the installment payments reached in 2021, a consequence of the extraordinary income already mentioned and the increase that occurred that year in the minimum payment, which depends on the benefits and not on the base. .

Refund requests for the 2021 campaign began to be returned in the last months of 2022 and also did so at a higher rate than in previous years. Both facts, the increase in requests and the streamlining of their execution, together with the existence of extraordinary returns due to rulings or the management of deferred tax assets (DTA), are the elements that explain that the returns made in 2022 grew more than other years (26.6%).