Since its creation, the Tax Agency has established the prevention and fight against tax fraud as fundamental and permanent strategic objectives.

One of the fundamental pillars of prevention is information and assistance to the taxpayer. Following the implementation of the new information and assistance model in 2023, which involved the integration of all existing channels and the national coordination of services through the Comprehensive Digital Administrations ( ADI ), during 2024, and in the specific area of Customs and Excise, virtual assistance tools will be developed to help taxpayers when importing goods, as well as when filing export declarations, even creating an assistance service in this matter in the ADI .

Also in the preventive field, it is worth highlighting the actions carried out in customs in relation to international sanctions imposed by the European Union, with special attention to those arising from the situation in Ukraine, which have meant greater demands on the Customs area, both in import and export activities. This has led to increased efforts in the processing of available information, both from national sources and at the European Union level, in order to improve the risk analysis system in such a sensitive area.

With regard to the control of electronic commerce operations, determined efforts will continue to be made to control them, because, although they are not high-value operations individually considered, the overwhelming number of operations and taxpayers, as a whole, entail a certain level of risk. New tools have been implemented to exploit internal and external information and identify taxpayers, which will allow the Tax Agency to carry out a greater number of checks.

In the investigations related to environmental taxes, the Tax Agency makes a significant effort to coordinate with other bodies and police forces in criminal investigations, since, in addition to the strictly tax-related component, there may be violations of the corresponding sectoral regulations.

The Agency's work is particularly valuable not only in the investigation of possible crimes within the jurisdiction of the European Public Prosecutor's Office committed in Spain, but also in supporting investigations carried out by European prosecutors delegated in other Member States, insofar as they have an impact on Spanish territory, either because the fraud investigated has extended to our country or because Spanish persons or companies have participated. And also in the criminal order, the participation of the Customs and Excise Department in the platform for the fight against organized crime and serious forms of crime stands out ( EMPACT ), particularly in those actions with a marked tax component.

Finally, in the prevention and repression of smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering, the importance of international cooperation is underlined, one of the basic axes when facing the fight against organized crime, in particular in the fight against drug trafficking and other stagnant or prohibited goods, where the Platform stands out especially in the area of the European Union. EMPACT already mentioned, promoted by EUROPOL, in whose operational action plans the Tax Agency actively participates. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the initiatives underway to combat corruption in container terminals, within the framework of the fight against cocaine trafficking, or, as regards tobacco smuggling, participation in international actions promoted by other European institutions such as OLAF or EUROPOL.