4.2.3. Collection phase
The Tax Agency carries out a wide range of actions aimed at collecting tax debts and penalties arising from the application of the state tax and customs system, as well as those arising from other public resources whose management it assumes by virtue of law 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 2022, the Tax Agency has continued to focus on intensifying the most qualified actions to combat fraud in the collection phase.
Evolution of outstanding debt
The collection management of tax debts consists in the exercise of administrative functions leading to collection. This 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 Tax Collection Regulations, subject to the periods established in the tax legislation.
Until the tax debts are extinguished, by payment, compensation or the other legally provided means, they are considered “outstanding.” However, within the outstanding amounts it is necessary to distinguish between those in which there are cases of suspension, deferral or insolvency proceedings, which are not due and payable while they remain in that situation, from all the other outstanding amounts, with regard to which the collection organs deploy all the faculties 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 debt, as of December 31, 2022, was €40,421 million, which represents a decrease of 3.8% compared to December 31, 2021.
Table No. 40 represents the Evolution of the outstanding debt at the end of each of the years included in the period 2003-2022 (Annex).
In Table No. 41. Breakdown of outstanding debt (Annex) details the data relating to this concept.
Outstanding debts in the payment period
Regarding executive debt, during 2022, the total amount of debt to be managed in the executive period has amounted to 34,087 million euros. This amount includes the outstanding debt in the executive branch at the beginning of 2022 and the charge or debts in the executive branch charged during the year. The total amount of debts subject to enforcement surcharge in 2022 amounted to 8,722 million euros, 8.1% less than in 2021. Of this amount, debts arising from the application of taxes under the jurisdiction of the Tax Agency amounted to 6.622 billion euros and those of other entities to 2.1 billion euros. On the other hand, debt amounting to 9.529 billion euros was cancelled.
The principal magnitudes relating to the collection phase are shown in the tables listed below in the Annex:
Table 42. Data on executive debts during 2022
Chart 43. Evolution of the position during the executive period (2008-2022)
Debts arising from the application of the taxes which are under the Tax Agency's remit
Of the debt subject to the enforcement surcharge in 2022, 76% of the total, 6,622 million, comes from debts originated by the application of taxes under the jurisdiction of the Tax Agency. 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. The debt arising from the application of taxes under the jurisdiction of the Tax Agency amounting to 6,762 million has been cancelled.
Furthermore, to prevent and combat asset stripping of debtors, cautionary measures have been developed in recent years (when there are indications that the debt payment could be unfulfilled or severely impeded), along with derivations of responsibility (as a mechanism to transfer the payment obligation from one taxpayer to another), under the circumstances established by Law.
In Table No. 44. Precautionary measures and derivations of liability (Annex) shows the results obtained in 2021 and 2022 and their rate of variation.
Management of debt of other entities
In 2022, collection has been carried out during the executive period for a group of 290 external entities, including 44 Autonomous Organizations, 16 Autonomous Communities, 74 Local Entities and 49 Public Entities, in addition to the different Ministerial Departments that have incorporated their public law resources to the enforcement procedure and other public law debts whose income must increase the State Budget. The collection of debts from other Member States of the European Union has also been managed within the framework of Mutual Assistance, as well as from other countries under signed international agreements (OECD).
In addition to the amount of debt to be managed for the civil liability collection orders arising from the commission of crimes against the Public Treasury (which represents 39.9%), the external entities with the highest amount of debt to be managed by the Tax Agency during 2022 have been the various Ministerial Departments (22.4%), the Autonomous Communities (11.4%) and the Autonomous Traffic Headquarters Body (12.5%).
As regards the Autonomous Communities, Andalusia, Catalonia and Valencia stand out with the highest amount of debt to be managed in 2022.
Other actions related to control during the collection phase
Within the framework of mutual assistance between member countries of the European Union, the Tax Agency has received in 2022, 822 requests for collection, 82 requests for notification, 777 requests for information and 24 requests for adoption of precautionary measures, which has led to a slight decrease in the total number (among all categories) of requests received from 1,774 in 2021 to 1,705 in 2022 (-3.89%).
Regarding requests for mutual assistance sent by Spain to other member countries of the European Union, there has been a decrease in the number of requests sent in 2022, going from 1,964 requests sent in 2021 to 1,806 requests in 2022.