One of the backbone of the Tax Agency's actions in preventing tax and customs fraud, set out in the 2020-2023 Strategic Plan, refers to the investigation and verification of tax and customs fraud.

The recently approved Tax and Customs Control Plan for 2023 specifies general guidelines aimed at ensuring maximum effectiveness in the fight against tax and customs fraud and sets out a series of priority lines of action, based on planning and selection of control actions carried out in a coordinated manner between the different areas that make up the Tax Agency, promoting the joint analysis of the risks detected in each taxpayer and, based on this, defining the optimal strategy for each of them; whether it is assistance or another verification activity.

The first of the priority lines of action consists of improving the information with tax relevance, obtained, on the one hand , in execution of the National Plan for the Collection of Information, which each year is defined, promoted and coordinated by the National Fraud Investigation Office taking into account the evolution of the economic reality of the moment; and on the other , at the international level, through the consolidation of information exchange mechanisms, both within the European Union and outside it, as well as the formalisation of multilateral agreements. All of this has allowed the Tax Agency to incorporate new information into its databases, which has enabled it to make significant progress, both in the prevention of future non-compliance, by promoting voluntary compliance, and in the fight against tax fraud.

Compliance with the obligations related to internal taxes will be monitored through actions that will cover a wide range of taxpayers, whether they are individuals or companies, as well as groups of companies.

Thus, in relation to multinational groups, large companies and tax groups, the effective application of anti-avoidance measures will be ensured, promoting prior valuation agreements, as well as mutual agreement procedures, within the framework of a common 360 strategy that aims to ensure long-term tax compliance of multinationals operating in Spain with regard to their transfer pricing policy. The focus will also remain on identifying structures and patterns of behaviour that benefit unduly from low taxation in certain territories.

The action on tax groups will be directed at controlling the compensation of negative tax bases from previous years and compliance with the legal requirements for the integration of entities into the tax group, with special interest in the elements that determine the territorial location of the entity representing the group.

As regards asset analysis and control of relevant assets, the 2023 Control Plan highlights the examination of the simulation of tax residence, both outside Spanish territory, including cases of non-declaration and also of declaration for the Non-Resident Income Tax when it should be declared as a personal income tax taxpayer, and within the same with respect to taxpayers who unduly obtain lower taxation by locating their residence in an autonomous community other than the real one.

As regards the fight against the underground economy, this will focus, among other matters, on the incorrect use of intermediary companies that simulate a non-existent economic activity, either to channel income or divert personal expenses, or to issue irregular invoices; In short, any scheme that seeks to unduly achieve lower taxation. This area of action will also focus on identifying non-declarants in any tax, monitoring transactions made in cash or virtual currencies, verifying income obtained by non-resident artists and sportsmen who perform in Spanish territory and strengthening the asset analysis of any subject related to the undue search for lower taxation.

On the other hand, through the coordination of the Customs and Inspection control areas, it is intended to prevent the abuse of the fiscal warehouse regime in matters of VAT and the dismantling of frauds articulated by plots that They defraud taxes on foreign trade, special and environmental taxes. In turn, through collaboration between Inspection and Collection, it is intended to ensure that the correct processing of the verification actions is accompanied by the subsequent payment of the settled debt.

The 2023 Control Plan focuses the audit of corporate tax on those liable for offsetting negative tax bases and tax credits pending offset, as well as on tax benefits used fraudulently by interposed entities, without activity, with special emphasis on checking the reality of existing financial transactions between the company and the partner. Applications for refunds of income that are particularly relevant due to their amount or relevant type and the correct application of the special tax regime for non-profit entities will also be reviewed.

Regarding the control of formal obligations, the Plan contemplates a greater presence on the streets of the Tax Agency personnel to confirm the information received at the Tax Agency and to be able to detect the existence of inactive companies, in addition to the use of computer programs dual use or entities registered in the Registry of Intra-Community Operators, or in the Registry of Monthly Refunds in VAT , without meeting the requirements established for it.

Furthermore, it is planned to promote collaborative actions to obtain information with e-commerce platforms, which put sellers and buyers in contact, to identify the parties involved for tax purposes and ensure compliance with the tax obligations of both.

The 2023 Control Plan focuses on the use of the approach Behavioural Insights as a less intrusive way of obtaining an improvement in the fiscal behavior of taxpayers.

Special mention is made of the control of customs fraud, which will focus its efforts on detecting and dismantling frauds carried out by networks that defraud taxes on foreign trade, special and environmental taxes, strengthening the support of the Tax Agency to the European Public Prosecutor's Office in the prosecution of crimes within its jurisdiction that are committed in Spanish territory or outside it.

Direct visits to establishments where goods subject to customs surveillance are located will be encouraged, along with verification of compliance with formal obligations related to environmental taxes.

Finally, the Control Plan highlights the role of the Tax Agency in relation to the prevention and repression of smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering and in the fight against organized crime at the national and international level, without losing sight of the action against organized crime associated with the production and trafficking of marijuana and the illegal cultivation of tobacco, together with the control of payment movements.