Skip to main content
Memory 2024

4.6. International Relations

The International Relations Coordination Unit (UCRI) was created by Resolution of December 26, 2004 of the President of the State Agency for Tax Administration with the purpose of providing the latter with a specific organic unit that would ensure the coordination of the different international activities in which it participates. At the organizational level, this Unit was integrated in 2011 into the Office of the Director General and is responsible for developing and coordinating the Agency's relations with foreign bodies and institutions and international organizations that are not specifically assigned to other bodies.

Furthermore, it must be taken into account that the customs area is, by definition, intrinsically international. The concept of “customs” is not understood except in an international context, given that its function is the facilitation and control of international trade in goods. The Agency's Customs and Excise Department carries out intensive international activities, which are channeled through the Subdirectorate General for International Relations, in close collaboration with the UCRI.

The Tax Agency participates, among others, in the following international organizations through different instruments, whether working groups, forums, seminars or other projects: the European Union (FISCALIS, CUSTOMS), the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), IOTA (Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations), CIAT (Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations), the WCO (World Customs Organisation), the Caribbean Customs Enforcement Council (CCLEC) and the Multilateral Convention on Cooperation and Mutual Assistance among the National Customs Authorities of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP).

The most significant facts in relation to the International Organizations mentioned above are the following:

European Union

  1. Fiscalis Program

    Some of the most important projects that have been developed as part of the Fiscalis Program during 2024 have been carried out at the express direction of the Tax Administration EU Summit (TADEUS), a group formed by the 27 Directors of the Tax Administrations of the EU member countries. Highlights include initiatives on the Use of Exchanged Data in the Application of the DAC, the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Tax Matters, and the Estimation of Administrative Cooperation, as well as those dedicated to the digital transformation of public administrations.

    Other Fiscalis initiatives, strongly promoted by TADEUS even though they are not its direct initiative, have included the group for the Implementation of the Directive to establish a minimum global level of taxation for multinationals (GloBE), the group dedicated to Electronic Invoicing, and the Administrative Cooperation in Tax Collection (PAOEs, one-stop shop, among others). Work has also continued on implementing the e-commerce VAT package and supporting the implementation of the CESOP.

    The participation of Tax Agency officials in all Fiscalis projects is reflected in more than 80 reports.

    Outside the FISCALIS program in the strict sense, although facilitated and financed in some way by it, the following activities should be highlighted as carried out by the Tax Agency in the European Union:

    • Continuation of meetings to finalize the Multilateral Convention on the Settlement of International Tax Disputes, as well as its rules of procedure.

    • Participation in the negotiating teams at the European Council on such important proposals as FASTER, VIDA, BEFIT, and data protection.

  2. Customs Program

    In 2024, the Customs and Excise Department will has participated in 138 project group meetings, 10 training activities and 1 working visit. Also, 3 high-level seminars have been attended, in which issues of customs cooperation and the new EUCABET have been addressed (EU Customs Alliance for Borders Expert Team). The Customs program's 2021-2023 funding agreement and budget, extended until December 31, 2024, due to a budget overhang, ended on October 31, and work has already begun on the new 2025-2027 funding agreement. It is expected to enter into force in the first quarter of 2025, with retroactive effect to November 1, 2024, so that eligible actions carried out from that date onwards are covered.

    In addition, the Tax Agency is part of two Customs Expert Teams: he ?Expert Teams pooling expertise to resolve complex cases of divergent tariff clasification II”, del que España es coordinador (y que se ha prorrogado por tercera vez, hasta finales de 2026) y el “Expert Team pooling and sharing specific analytical expertise of Customs Laboratories at EU level III”, which came into force on December 1, 2021, and is now the third edition in which Spain has participated.

  3. European Commission and Council groups

    The Tax Agency regularly participates in the meetings of various working groups and committees of the European Commission. Of note is participation in the administrative cooperation and information exchange committees: Standing Committee on Administrative Cooperation on VAT (SCAC), SCAC Subgroup on IT Issues (SCIT), Working Group of Experts on Administrative Cooperation in Direct Taxation (WG ACDT), Subgroup on Automatic Exchange of Information in Direct Taxation (SG AEOI), Group of Experts on Tax Collection, and in some working groups of the Council when it is responsible for dealing with tax administration issues.

    Regarding Customs and Excise, Spain has participated in a total of 418 meetings within the European Union, of which 69 have been meetings of the Preparatory Bodies of the Council of the EU (mainly, the Customs Union Group and the Law Enforcement Group - Customs); 44 Committee meetings for monitoring by Member States the adoption of implementing acts by the Commission; 84 meetings of Customs Code Expert Groups and similar groups in support of the Commission; 138 project group meetings under the Customs programme; and the rest have been meetings held in operational forums such as EUROPOL (63) or others (CEPOL, EUIPO or FRONTEX).

    Most meetings of EUROPOL, the European agency that assists Member States in preventing and combating organized crime, are held within the EMPACT platform, a structured multidisciplinary cooperation platform in which customs authorities actively participate.

    The Council's Customs Union Group's work has focused primarily on the customs union reform package proposed by the European Commission.

    The main element of the reform, approved by the Commission on 17 May 2023, is a new Union Customs Code based on three pillars:

    • Simplification and improvement of customs procedures.

    • The creation of the EU customs data centre (Data Hub). This represents a fundamental shift from twenty-seven IT environments with numerous systems in each Member State to a centralized set of systems and services developed centrally and whose use is mandatory.

    • The creation of a European Union customs authority dedicated to managing the customs data center, strengthening the common interpretation of rules, assessing risks, and defining control priorities.

    This is a highly technically complex issue, the discussions of which began under the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council in the second half of 2023 and continued in 2024 during the Belgian and Hungarian Presidencies.

    Also noteworthy is the participation in the preparatory work for the constitution of the EU Customs Alliance for Borders Expert Team (EUCABET). This is an expert team established to ensure improved operational cooperation at ports, land borders, and air borders. The team is established to provide an opportunity for cooperation among Member States by utilizing their existing capabilities on a voluntary basis and based on national initiatives. The team will contribute to operational crisis management and play a role in addressing difficult situations affecting activities at the EU's external borders. This includes coordinating inter-agency cooperation, information sharing, and addressing crisis-related risks.

    The team is structured into 6 units whose activities are closely related: Maritime Collaboration Unit; Air and Post Collaboration; Land Border Collaboration Unit; Mobile Groups Collaboration Unit; Coordination Unit and Support Unit. Each unit is composed of a head of unit, his or her deputy, and a number of experts from the Member States. At the head of all of them is the Head of EUCABET who oversees the activities they carry out.

    Spain will actively participate in the project, holding the position of deputy head of the Support Unit and will have an expert in the Maritime Collaboration Unit. The COM considers this project as the starting point for the future EU Customs Authority.

    Furthermore, due to its role in supporting the Commission in defining the customs strategy and policy, it is worth highlighting Spain's participation, together with the customs authorities of the rest of the EU member countries, in the meetings of the Customs Policy Group chaired by the European Commission. The group also assists the Commission in establishing the general framework for cooperation between the Commission, Member States, and other stakeholders on the operational aspects of the customs union and in the implementation of customs legislation, programs, and policies. The group holds two annual meetings.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

The OECD's work on tax matters is carried out mainly through the Committee on Tax Affairs (CFA). In 2024, the CFA's work has been linked to the G20 agenda and, above all, to the challenges of the Digital Economy and its work programme in order to develop a consensual solution to address the taxation challenges resulting from the digitalisation of the economy (development of pillars 1 and 2), within the programme of the Inclusive Framework of BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) and the work on Tax Certainty in all its Working Groups.

Regarding the work of the OECD In the Forum on Tax Administration (FTA), the active participation of the Tax Agency stands out, through the DCGC, in the ICAP-Tax Certainty compliance program for large companies open to all countries that wish to participate, in the Tax Debt Management Network (TDMN), with members of the Revenue Department, and the Community of Interest on Operational Risk Management (COI on ERM), in which the Internal Audit Service participates. In all these groups, the Tax Agency is part of the coordinating bodies.

Other groups in which participation has been included are the Capacity Building Network (CBN), which seeks to coordinate the efforts of member countries in developing technical assistance to third countries; the Community of Interest on Behavioural Insights (COI), which focuses on optimising administration/taxpayer relations by applying behavioural techniques; the Community of Interest on the Innovative Use of Information (IUI), the Platform on Gender Balance, the Community of Interest on Human Resources Management, and the Community of Interest on Combating the Shadow Economy, which includes its SMITE group on social media and opinion makers (“influencers”).

The Tax Agency continues to actively participate in various projects of the “Network” Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration” (JITSIC), made up of 42 countries, whose objective is to facilitate the exchange of information and collaborate on matters of common interest to combat tax avoidance and evasion. During 2024, Tax Agency officials have participated in the Certificates of Residence (CoR) project, in the Expert Group on Exchange of Information (EOI), CRS/FATCA and in the Expert Group on Cryptoassets, in the group of “Data Leaks” and the Intellectual Property Forum.

In 2024, the “Pillar Knowledge Sharing Network•, Launched by the Capacity Building Network through the KSP (Knowledge Sharing Platform for Tax Administrations of the Canada Revenue Agency) to support developing countries in the implementation of the Two Pillars Solution, addressing specific issues surrounding the implementation of the same, it was regularly attended by officials from the DCGC, the Inspection Department and the International Relations Coordination Unit. Through it, experts from tax administrations in "early implementation" jurisdictions offer high-level practical peer-to-peer advice and share lessons learned on administrative and implementation aspects of the Two-Pillar Solution.

In November 2024, the twelfth edition of the Tax Administration series was published. FTA. On this occasion, several projects launched by the Tax Agency appear as good practices, such as the Single European Direct Debit Area (SEPA Direct Debits), the self-correction of errors in tax returns, PIT, the Multi-Channel Information and Assistance Service specifically aimed at non-residents, the simplification of communications with taxpayers, preventive approaches to compliance, or the Ethics Advisory Commission

Finally, it should be noted that, as part of the Tax Agency's ongoing training plan, several courses on taxation and international standards prepared by the Global Relations Program of the Tax Agency were offered. OECD, which was attended by 281 Agency officials.

The Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA)

In 2024, the IOTA held 22 events, some in conjunction with the OECD and with TAXUD, 10 of them entirely online, 3 exclusively in person and 9 in hybrid format. As a result, more than 200 officials have benefited from IOTA's activities.

The Tax Agency has had an active participation in the work program of the IOTA, disseminating their best practices in planning, fundraising, office organization for large companies, and influencer control, among others. There was also a relevant participation in the General Assembly and the Annual Conference, presenting the predictive analysis tool to improve compliance in the PIT, and the billing and electronic invoicing computer system projects, respectively.

The Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT)

The 58th CIAT General Assembly of 2024 was held in April in Brazil, under the theme “Mechanisms for conflict prevention and resolution and promotion of voluntary compliance.” The Spanish delegation, led by the Director General, played an important role, giving presentations on "Cooperative Compliance," "New Information and Assistance Model," and "Publication of Criteria as a Way to Reduce Tax Litigation."

In October, the Technical Conference of the CIAT in Peru, the main theme of which was "Best practices to reduce tax evasion in the framework of international taxation", with active participation of the Spanish delegation, giving a presentation on "Publication of evasive cases: “Spanish experience”.

Within the framework of the work of the Ethics Committee of the CIAT, chaired by the Internal Audit Service of the Tax Agency, a pilot test of the Self-Assessment Guide for Tax Administrations has been carried out. The test was conducted in collaboration with Paraguay's National Tax Revenue Directorate and included the participation of officials from the Tax Agency.

The World Customs Organization (WCO)

The WCO is the only international organization with jurisdiction over customs matters, with membership of more than 180 nations that globally manage 98% of world trade. Spain has participated in 43 meetings of its governing bodies, preparatory committees and working groups. Spain has also participated in various activities related to international technical assistance.

Multilateral agreement on cooperation and mutual assistance between the national customs directorates of Latin America, Spain and Portugal (COMALEP)

The Convention, signed in Mexico on September 11, 1981 and subsequently modified by the Protocol approved in Cancun (Quintana Roo), Mexico, on October 29, 1999, constitutes an instrument to strengthen mutual assistance in the fight against fraud and cooperation, as well as the increase and development of trade between the Parties.

The Council of National Customs Directors, a collegiate body responsible for its management and administration, meets once a year. In 2024, the Board of Directors' meeting took place in Valencia on September 25 and 26, preceded by a preparatory meeting.

The Executive Committee of this organization, of which Spain is a member, also met in 2024.

In addition, within this forum, two fifteen-day working sessions were held by the Ibero-American Nomenclature Committee (CIN), which is working on the Spanish versions of auxiliary documents of the Harmonized System, in coordination with the World Customs Organization.

Caribbean Customs Law Enforecement Council (CCLEC) (in Spanish, Caribbean Customs Law Enforcement Council (CCALA))

Organization created in the early 1970s as an informal association of Caribbean customs administrations, with headquarters in Saint Lucia and involving 37 countries, in addition to Spain.

The CCLEC was initially established as an informal framework for information exchange focused on combating drug trafficking, but has evolved to cover broader mutual assistance and cooperation, albeit on the basis of a Memorandum of Understanding.

In addition, the Tax Agency carries out the following cooperation activities with other tax authorities:

  • Technical assistance

    In the international activity of the Tax Agency, the technical assistance provided to other countries by our experts is of great importance.

    In the tax area, the following bilateral technical assistance has been provided to other countries by our experts:

    • Colombia, National Tax and Customs Directorate (DIAN). With the collaboration of the CIAT, long-term assistance has been initiated for the DIAN in the area of transfer pricing and other international tax matters. It is expected to last until 2025.

    • Panama, General Directorate of Revenue (DGI). For the purpose of training and preparation of deliverables on the Fiscal Citizenship Model and a Roadmap for the implementation of actions, assistance in this matter has been carried out during 2024, with the collaboration of CIAT.

    • Short-term assistance to the Revenue Administration Service (SAR) in Honduras regarding human resources; to the National Superintendency of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT) in Peru regarding tax management software tools; to the General Directorate of Internal Revenue (DGII) of the Dominican Republic, where a virtual meeting was held on information technology and security; and to the Federal Revenue Service of Brazil regarding prior valuation agreements.

    Furthermore, within the framework of the technical assistance of the IOTA Among peers, a visit was made to Greece to support them in the creation of a Services Directorate and a first online meeting was held to initiate assistance to Poland in the organization of the International Information Exchange Unit (to be developed in 2025).

    Furthermore, in the area of Customs and Excise 2024, nine technical assistance sessions were provided, all in person, with the following details:

    • have had as their objective the establishment or modernization of a Customs laboratory. They have been carried out within the framework of the OMA and the beneficiary countries have in all cases been African countries, specifically: Tunisia, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana.

    • 2 have been referred to the harmonized system or TARIC, also under the umbrella of the OMA and in African countries: Namibia and Ivory Coast.

    • 1 framed within the INAMA Project of the OMA , on the illegal wildlife trade, carried out in Peru.

    • 1 in terms of VAT and international trade, developed in Mexico at the request of the OECD.

    • 1, of the European Commission, dedicated to the arms trade, held in Peru and Ecuador.

  • Technical queries

    Within the Tax Agency's international activities, we must also highlight its cooperation with other tax authorities through written responses to technical inquiries. In 2024, written responses were provided to 78 inquiries, distributed as follows: 43 technical queries from European countries channeled through the Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations, 3 queries through the Red Joint International Taxforce on Shared Intelligence and Collaboration (JITSIC), 8 inquiries from the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) and 24 from various tax administrations.

  • International agreements

    On September 18, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Inter-American Development Bank to promote cooperation programs and projects that contribute to the improvement of tax and customs systems in Latin American and Caribbean countries. On October 28, a Mutual Assistance and Cooperation Agreement on Customs Matters was signed with India, negotiated by the Department of Customs and II. EE., within the scope of its powers.