The Tax Agency investigates the existence of hidden incomes related to filing the Special Tax Return

Fight against fraud

• The director of the Agency will appear before Congress to explain the actions carried out so far 
• The existence of undeclared income and the concealment of real ownership of assets are being investigated.
• Following a phase of determining risk profiles that began in 2013, regularisations have already begun.

October 17, 2014.- The Tax Agency has initiated inspections of taxpayers within the framework of an investigation process of hidden income related to the extraordinary regularization opened in 2012 through the Special Tax Declaration (DTE). The Director General of the Tax Agency, Santiago Menéndez, announced today that he will request to appear before the Congress of Deputies to explain the actions taken.

During the closing ceremony of the annual Congress of the Organisation of Tax Inspectors, Menéndez expressed his satisfaction with the work carried out by the officials of the Tax Agency, whom he thanked for their "determined" work in the fight against fraud, of which these actions related to the DTE are a "good example".

Once the extraordinary regularisation period had passed, in 2013 the Tax Agency began a series of inspection actions linked to the information obtained from the DTE. The Annual Tax Control Plan of that year established that, “the Tax Agency will analyze whether taxpayers who have undergone voluntary regularization processes of their tax situation, whether ordinary or extraordinary, have complied with the purpose provided for in the regulations governing such processes.”

“The Special Tax Declaration does not serve to protect fraudulent or irregular behavior,” stressed the director of the Agency. "These audits demonstrate this, and if, as a result of the audits, other irregular, non-tax-related behaviour is discovered, the Tax Agency will of course refer the case to the corresponding judicial or administrative body," he stressed.

Initially, Menéndez explained, the Agency's Inspection Department developed a series of "massive data analysis processes" with the aim of detecting risk profiles corresponding to taxpayers "who had attempted to improperly benefit" from the regularization permitted by Form 750 for filing the Special Tax Declaration.

First debt settlements

The director of the Tax Agency explained that, after this initial analysis, the Inspection Department of the AEAT established a series of specific risk profiles with a view to a subsequent burden on the taxpayers' inspection plan.

From that moment on, the Tax Agency made various requests, reports and investigations that have resulted in the charging of taxpayers and the first settlements of debts by the Agency. The actions affect both the possible existence of income not disclosed in the DTE, as well as the possible concealment of the real ownership of the declared assets.

"The effort is bearing fruit," stressed Menéndez, who recalled the more than 5.5 billion euros raised through the Agency's control activities in the first half of the year. “These results are not a coincidence. They are the result of the lines of action of the Tax Agency and, "especially, of the work of its officials", to whom he expressed his "complete recognition".