Analysis

This year, 2022, marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the State Tax Administration Agency (Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria).Trying to imagine the way forward for the next 30 years is not only complex, but also seems inappropriate, as the priorities, challenges, opportunities and needs of the Tax Agency depend on highly variable factors, such as the economic environment - national and international -, business models or technological advances.However, it is possible to plan for a more reasonable period of time.This is the aim of the Tax Agency's Strategic Plan 2020-2023.

The current Tax-Civic Education Programme, created in May 2003, had as its main antecedents the various sociological research studies carried out by the Institute for Tax Studies, which provided continuous information on the social perception of taxation, and the recommendations made in 1994 by the Special Unit for the Study of Fraud on the advisability of introducing tax education in the education system.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office is a body with its own legal personality which extends its powers throughout the European Union to protect the Union's financial interests in criminal matters and was established by Council Regulation (EU) 2017/1939 of 12 October 2017.

In recent years, we have witnessed significant developments in the international exchange of tax information, which has thus become a powerful tool for tax administrations to make cross-border information available to ensure effective enforcement of the tax system.

The globalisation of economies and the increase in cross-border transactions has been a major challenge for tax administrations.The last few years have been key in terms of increasing the transparency of international information and consolidating all the exchanges of information promoted in the European Union and at the level of the OECD.

The Economic Management Service of the Tax Agency is responsible for the administration of the financial and material resources necessary for the fulfilment of its purposes, also acting as the Agency's accounting service.

The Planning and Institutional Relations Service (SEPRI) plays a central role in the design and development of the Tax Agency's strategic and operational planning, taking on the tasks of promotion, coordination and monitoring of all planning instruments with the ultimate aim of being the reference service in cross-cutting tasks aimed at fulfilling the organisation's mission.

The Spanish tax administration, like all public administrations, requires legal assistance to accompany the development of its actions in order to guarantee the principle of legality and to act with the greatest legal certainty.

As in any organisation with more than 26,000 employees, in the Tax Agency the Human Resources Department is a fundamental part of its structure and operation, as all its functions can be condensed into a single one:provide each unit of the organisation with the necessary staff, in quantity and quality, to enable them to carry out their mandated functions;as well as having those staff committed, motivated and prepared to carry out their work in the most effective way at all times.

The Customs and Excise Department of the Tax Agency is responsible, among other duties, for the management and control of taxes on foreign trade, excise duties and environmental taxes.Another area of competence relates to the repression of smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering.