In any field where technical language is used, there is always a debate between the necessary understanding that we must facilitate in the receiver and the essential need for precision that good practice demands from the sender. That said, and to the extent that society is demanding that we make an effort to simplify matters in order to improve communication with citizens, the Tax Agency has already included this as one of its objectives in its strategic planning for 2020-2023.

The Agency set itself the objective for this three-year period of strengthening its institutional communication as a means of facilitating its activity and improving the fulfilment of its immediate objectives (information and assistance to taxpayers and the fight against fraud) and medium-term objectives (improving voluntary compliance with tax obligations), with the 2023 Addendum to the Strategic Plan expressly stating that:

“ The achievement of these objectives involves the implementation of a series of specific strategic actions and initiatives, including, among others, the introduction of measures to simplify the language used in communications and notifications by the Tax Agency.”

On November 2, 2023, the implementation of this commitment was announced to advance the simplification of the language used by the Tax Agency in its relationship with taxpayers.

In a determined effort to facilitate voluntary compliance with tax obligations in the Collection Area (area characterized by the issuance of multiple documents related primarily to payment), an improvement and simplification of the content of some documents issued from here has been addressed, so that they are more understandable and simple for their recipients. In particular, the procedures for the seizure of wages, salaries and pensions, as well as the procedures for commercial and/or rental credits, have been simplified.

The actions carried out have focused on the following pillars:

1. Document improvements . New content and text models have been drawn up for both the proceedings for the attachment of wages, salaries and pensions and for commercial and/or rental credits, with clearer and simpler language, accessible to all citizens, highlighting the following:

   • A one-page summary has been incorporated, containing information on the basic elements of the document.

   • The content and text of the documents have been modified, with a new restructuring of the administrative act into clearly differentiated sections.

   • Finally, the annexes to the documents have been substantially simplified, eliminating instructions for completion and writing them in much simpler language.

2. Help Tools . Secondly, an assistant or tool called “Help to answer” the procedures has been created on the AEAT Electronic Office in order to resolve general doubts that the user may have when indicating the correct answer in the corresponding documents. 

3. Personalized support services . Finally, an Information and Assistance service has been created via chat and telephone, in the latter case by appointment, to help answer these new models of seizure proceedings.

Thus, by improving the aforementioned documents and creating these tools, the aim is to facilitate compliance with tax obligations and achieve greater simplicity when making payments, so that all of this results in a significant reduction in indirect administrative costs associated with compliance by citizens and in greater voluntary income.