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At the close of the year, the Tax Agency has returned more than 9.3 billion euros to 13.6 million taxpayers

2016 Income Campaign

  • Almost 97% of returns and more than 93% of the amounts requested have already been paid
  • 17,355,000 Tax returns have been filed online, 88% of the total number of Tax returns, representing 38 points more than six years ago when the measures to promote online filing as the primary filing method were bolstered

January 2, 2018.- The Tax Agency has already made, as of December 29, 96.9% of the returns corresponding to the 2016 Income Campaign, as such So, at the end of last year, more than 13,618,000 Personal Income Tax (IRPF) filers had already obtained their refund. The overall amount refunded comes to 9.319 million euros, 93.2% of the total amount claimed.

The total number of Tax returns filed during the last Personal Income Tax campaign came to 19,728,000, representing almost 176,000 more than in the previous campaign, which confirms the sustained recovery of the number of people filing Personal Income Tax, starting in 2015.

A new increase in the number of online filings has also been seen, reaching 17,355,000 tax returns, 88% of the total. Six years ago (Personal Income Tax 2010, filed in 2011), when the Tax Agency started to reinforce the measures to promote online filing as a principal formula of filling out and filing Tax returns, online filing did not reach 50%. The result is that online filing has now grown by 38 points.

‘RENTA WEB’ a boost to the campaign

The full implementation of "RENTA WEB' this year as a universal tool offered by the Tax Agency for managing all tax returns represents the culmination of a strategy started six years ago with the setting up of the REN0 service for obtaining the tax return draft online, and its aim was to speed up tax return filing and facilitate the refund process, so that more taxpayers could file sooner and get their refund faster.

Thus, in the first two months of the last campaign, 43% more Tax returns have been filed compared with six years ago, and refunds have increased by 35%. Now over half the expected total tax returns are presented in the two first months of the campaign.

Despite the decrease occurring during the latest campaign in requests for refunds, both in number (-3.9%) and in amount (-8.8%), refunds effectively made to taxpayers to date are falling at a lower rate (-3.4% in number and -8.7% in amount).

The decrease in applications for refunds contrasts with a significant increase in payable tax returns. The reason for the difference initially forecast in the number of tax returns to be paid and refunded lies in two factors; firstly, a more positive evolution than that forecast in the real estate sector regarding capital gains, as well as in leasing; and, on the other hand, the maintenance in 2016 of the effect of the tax reform, which has enabled more taxpayers to be exempt from filing a tax return.

Annex: The following tables are incorporated:

  • 2016 Personal Income Tax (Details at 29 December for 2016 Personal Income Tax and 30 December for 2015 Personal Income Tax)
  • Declarations presented
  • Refunds requested and paid (amounts in million euros)
  • Refunds paid number and amount 2015/2016 (amounts in millions of euros)