One of the backbones of the Tax Agency's actions towards the prevention of tax and customs fraud, established in the 2020-2023 Strategic Plan, refers to the investigation and verification actions of tax and customs fraud.

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

The first of the priority lines of action consists of improving the information with tax significance, obtained, on the one hand , in execution of the National Information Collection Plan, which each year defines, promotes and coordinates 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 formalization of multilateral agreements. All of this has allowed the Tax Agency to incorporate new information into its databases that allows it to achieve important advances, both in the work of preventing future non-compliance, promoting voluntary compliance, and in the fight against tax fraud.

Control of compliance with obligations related to internal taxes will be carried out through actions that will cover a wide range of taxpayers, whether 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 360 common strategy that aims to ensure the long-term tax compliance of multinationals operating in Spain with regard to their transfer pricing policy. Likewise, the focus will remain on identifying structures and patterns of behavior that unduly benefit from the low taxation of certain territories.

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

With regard to 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 declaration for the Tax. on the Income of Non-Residents when they should be declared as a personal income tax taxpayer, as well as within the same with respect to taxpayers who unduly obtain lower taxation by locating their residence in an autonomous community other than their real one.

Regarding 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 the identification of non-filers in any tax, the monitoring of transactions carried out in cash or virtual currencies, the verification of income obtained by non-resident artists and athletes who perform in Spanish territory and the reinforcement of the asset analysis of any subject related to the improper 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 verification of the Corporate Tax on those liable to offset negative tax bases and on tax credits pending offset, as well as on tax benefits used fraudulently by intermediary entities, without activity, with special emphasis on verification of the reality of the financial operations existing between the company and the partner. Requests for the return of especially relevant income will also be reviewed due to their amount or relevant typology and the correct application of the special tax regime for non-profit entities.

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.

On the other hand, it is planned to promote collaborative actions to obtain information with electronic commerce platforms, which put sellers and buyers in contact, to fiscally identify the parties involved and ensure compliance with the tax obligations of both.

The 2023 Control Plan affects the use of the approach Behavioural Insights as a less intrusive way to obtain an improvement in the fiscal behavior of taxpayers.

A special mention is dedicated to the control of customs fraud, which will direct its efforts to the detection and dismantling of fraud articulated by schemes that defraud taxes on foreign trade, special and environmental taxes, enhancing 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 promoted, 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 actions against organized crime associated with the production and trafficking of marijuana and the illegal cultivation of tobacco, along with the control of payment movements.