- More than a dozen control priorities are linked to the new tools of Law 7/2012, affecting matters such as cash payments, modules and precautionary collection measures

- The creation of the National Office of International Taxation and an ambitious analysis of the electronic commerce business will guide two major tax control strategies for the future

- The fight against the black economy will be strengthened with 17,000 inspections and 2,600 collections, and online gambling will begin to be checked

The Tax Agency has published today in the Official State Gazette the general guidelines of the Tax Control Plan 2013, the Agency's main planning instrument in the fight against fraud. The budget target for this year is to obtain revenues of 9.13 billion euros from direct tax revenue, which is 11.7% more than the target set for 2012.

On this occasion, the Control Plan is clearly marked by the implementation of Law 7/2012 on the intensification of actions for the prevention and fight against fraud, including more than a dozen lines of action directly related to this law.

The Tax Agency will therefore monitor compliance with the new requirements established by Law 7/2012 from the outset, and will take advantage of the new tools it offers for tax control. Among other priorities of the 2013 Control Plan related to the anti-fraud law, the following stand out:

- Cash payment control . Analysis of complaints received regarding non-compliance with the limit on cash payments of 2,500 euros. Special attention will also be paid to the existence of transactions for which the means of payment used cannot be determined, and cash movements in customs will be closely monitored to detect amounts that exceed the authorized limit.

- Limitation of the module regime. The evolution of taxpayers who are excluded from the objective assessment regime after the entry into force of the anti-fraud law will be checked in order to pursue those actions aimed at artificially remaining in the regime. There will be special monitoring of those businesses that invoice other businesses for a significant part of their operations in order to, when appropriate in accordance with Law 7/2012, promote their exclusion from the system.

- New information on assets and accounts abroad. The Agency will check the tax situation of taxpayers who, without having submitted the new information declaration, offer evidence of operations with foreign countries that allow us to presume the existence of hidden assets and rights outside our borders. In the case of taxpayers in debt, the information declaration will be used to promote requests for mutual assistance from other Member States of the European Union in order to adopt precautionary measures or seize assets.

- Application of the reversal of the taxable person in VAT for the delivery of real estate and for subcontractors. For operations prior to the entry into force of Law 7/2012, the prosecution of organized schemes that seek VAT refunds through the transfer of properties without real economic content will continue. In new operations, effective compliance with the rule on reversal of the taxable person will be monitored, both in the delivery of real estate and in the area of subcontractors.

- Promotion of precautionary measures to prevent the depletion of assets. The collection agencies, in collaboration with the Management, Inspection and Customs departments, will adopt the necessary precautionary measures to ensure the collection of the debt in the event of any well-founded suspicion of non-payment. The goal for 2013 is to increase precautionary measures by 20% compared to the previous year's objective, exceeding 3,500.  In cases of alleged tax crimes, action may be taken even before the file is sent to the Public Prosecutor's Office, as provided for in Law 7/2012, and the assets of the accused will be investigated to detect acts of asset depletion or punishable insolvency. In addition, the adoption of agreements prohibiting the disposal of a company's property when the debtor's shares have been seized will be encouraged.

- Derivations of liability. The main measures to be taken to combat fraud in the collection phase will focus on the derivations of responsibility. In this area, emphasis will be placed on actions aimed at applying the assumptions of lifting the veil, de facto administrators and jointly liable parties for concealment of assets, taking advantage of the improvements established by Law 7/2012.

- Fraudulent actions in the bankruptcy field. Taking advantage of the regulatory changes established in the anti-fraud law, requests for postponement of debts that are considered credits against the estate will be immediately rejected (after the date of declaration of the bankruptcy) and the necessary separate declaration of the installments will be monitored. of VAT accrued before and after the date of the competition, as well as the total compensation of the outstanding balances before said date.

Control of international taxation

Another new development is the launch of the National Office of International Taxation (ONFI), which will pay special attention to the taxation of multinational business groups and the verification of transfer prices. Also at the international level, persons or entities that fictitiously locate their tax residence in other countries will receive preferential attention.

However, special attention will also be paid to transactions carried out with territories or countries that are no longer on the list of tax havens due to having signed the corresponding conventions or agreements. In this regard, the Tax Agency will make selective requests for information in order to assess the degree of effectiveness of the tax data exchange agreements signed with these territories and, if necessary, report non-compliance.

Combating the underground economy

During 2013, the Tax Agency will continue to intensify its fight against the black economy and the presence of control bodies on the street to carry out mass controls and in-person information gathering activities on economic activities open to the public, customs premises and authorised establishments.

Face-to-face actions aimed at detecting undeclared rentals will continue and controls will be expanded on sectors and activities most likely to conceal opaque activity, while the use of false invoices will continue to be pursued.

Specifically, 17,000 tax compliance verification visits are planned for inspection purposes and 2,600 collection visits are planned for premises owned by debtors. In both cases, the forecast is for a 19% increase in the actions carried out in 2012.

Investigative actions against organised tax fraud and money laundering schemes will also continue to be a priority, especially those related to the introduction into customs territory of goods from Asian countries.

Tobacco smuggling will also be the subject of special attention, since the combination of certain factors, such as rising prices and the economic crisis, has led to an increase in tobacco smuggling in general and cigarettes in particular, which has led to a significant loss of tax revenue.

In addition, the effective presence of the collection bodies in premises owned by debtors will be reinforced under certain assumptions, such as the possibility that they have failed to comply with seizure proceedings with a relevant collection significance. Likewise, seizures of payments made by third parties to the debtor by credit card will be intensified.

Online commerce as a plan for the future

The 2013 Control Plan also includes the first actions aimed at the e-commerce sector in a comprehensive and orderly manner. In order to prepare the ground for larger and more complex projects in the following years, the Tax Agency will begin to catalogue the main business management operations associated with activities carried out exclusively through the Internet.

The aim is to determine tax risk patterns that should be subject to control and to obtain information on the economic activity of taxpayers on the Internet, comparing the characteristics of the services offered through websites with the tax profile of taxpayers in accordance with the information available in the Agency's databases. Various ways of obtaining information on the payment methods used on the Internet will also be investigated.

This year the verification of online gambling activities will also begin, both with regard to the taxation of prizes in personal income tax and VAT and with regard to direct taxation in general of online gambling operators.

Aggressive planning and testing

In parallel to these areas of activity, the Tax Agency plans to strengthen its controls related to aggressive tax planning and the verification of other specific operations, regimes and sectors of activity. In this regard, and among other fields of action, the verification of the deductibility of financial expenses will be strengthened, particularly within groups, the joint verification of family groups and companies in which they participate will be encouraged to prevent fraudulent transfers of income between them, and actions on professionals will be increased by 25%, to discover undeclared income and fictitious expenses.

The correct calculation and payment of the fractional payments of the Corporate Tax determined by the tax base method of the current year (the one that large companies must use) will also be a priority.

Within the framework of its control plans, the Tax Agency will analyse whether taxpayers who have undertaken voluntary regularisation processes of their tax situation, whether ordinary or extraordinary, have complied with the purpose provided for in the regulations governing such processes. Likewise, the information obtained in these processes will be transferred to the Autonomous Communities when it is of interest for the management of the taxes for which they are competent.

At the same time, the Tax Agency has decided to increase the involvement of Customs Surveillance in actions to combat tax fraud. In this way, the fight against tax fraud will be able to rely more heavily on police investigation and operational techniques, as well as asset tracking and asset investigation strategies specific to the fight against money laundering.