The Tax Agency regularized tax bases for 5,578 million, 81% more, in 112 audits of the international taxation of large multinational companies
2021 tax control results report
- 540 million euros have been settled, 23.6% more, to taxpayers with large assets in a total of 1,165 cases (+57%)
- The tool based on 'big data' analysis for the detection of false non-residents with significant assets has already led to the liquidation of 24.5 million to 69 taxpayers who were artificially located in almost thirty countries
- 36,600 control actions have been carried out on large companies, assets, corporate abuses and the black economy, 23.8% more
- In 2021, the Tax Agency has obtained 14,956 million in homogeneous terms (16,896 million in total) as a result of its control work, 17% more, and has reduced negative bases, deductions pending application and quotas to be compensated with an impact of 5,000 million, 56% of which corresponds to actions of the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers.
July 21, 2022 .- Last year, the Tax Agency regularized tax bases for an amount of 5,578 million euros in a total of 112 inspections on the international taxation of large multinational companies carried out by the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers and the other delegations of the Agency with the support of the National Office of International Taxation (ONFI).
The amount of these regularised tax bases, 81.3% higher than in 2020, includes a large volume of files that determine the year-on-year comparison, although, even excluding it, the amount of the regularisations would still be more than 35% higher than in 2020. In turn, the ONFI participated in 2021 in the management of 28 Advance Valuation Agreements (APA) with an estimative result, which means guaranteeing future tax bases for an amount of more than 3 billion euros.
Control actions above pre-pandemic levels
These results are part of all the control activity carried out by the Tax Agency in 2021, which concluded with 1,795,000 actions, 10.4% more than the previous year and 7.9% more than in 2019, also exceeding pre-pandemic levels in practically all major types of actions.
Of this total, the most notable were the 36,599 control actions carried out in relation to large companies and assets, corporate abuse and the underground economy, 23.8% more than last year. These are actions that consume a large amount of resources, and are also characterised by their high level of qualification.
Specifically, 26,989 actions were carried out on large companies, multinationals and corporate groups, 24.2% more; 2,899 of patrimonial and corporate analysis (+38.2%); 5,317 in relation to the concealment of activity and the abuse of corporate forms (+22.3%). The figure of 26,989 checks is completed by 1,394 actions that have allowed hidden sales to be revealed within the framework of the control of economic activities (the rest of the actions to discover sales are already included in the two previous sections).
Collection and reduction of bases
In terms of overall revenue collection, and as a result of its work in preventing and combating fraud, in 2021 the Agency obtained homogeneous results of 14,956 million euros (16,896 million in total), 17% more than the previous year. These results do not include the reduction of split payments (1.94 billion euros in 2021 and 4.487 billion in 2020), which will be difficult to repeat in the future and therefore prevent a homogeneous comparison of the series.
The control results are broken down into 9,037 million euros of direct income, 11.7% more than the previous year; 5.164 million due to a reduction in refunds (not including split payment files), an increase of 28.4%; and induced income (late declarations without prior request) amounting to 755 million euros, 11.5% more.
The Tax Agency also made reductions in negative tax bases, deductions in pending tax rates and rates to be offset, with an effect in terms of increased tax rates of almost 5 billion euros, of which 56% correspond to actions by the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers.
These are very important actions that, although they do not count in the control results, as they do not involve income or a reduction in refunds, are of great importance in broadening future tax bases and increasing revenue.
High net worth individuals and false non-residents
Last year, the Tax Agency once again increased the number of control actions on large assets of individuals carried out by the various delegations, with a total of 1,165 actions in relation to large fortunes, 57% more than in the previous year, which led to the liquidation of debts amounting to 540 million, 23.6% more. Since 2018 – the year in which the Central Unit for the Coordination of Control of Relevant Assets was created – until 2021, more than 1.9 billion euros have been settled in this area in more than 3,200 audit files.
In addition to supporting the liquidations of large fortunes carried out in each territorial area of the Agency, the Unit has promoted various projects to continue strengthening and updating the control systems in this area. The most innovative of these, launched two years ago, is the incorporation of a tool based on big data analysis to detect false non-residents with significant assets.
In 2021, the audits initiated have already been extended to 223 taxpayers (there were 126 in 2020), and actions have been completed for a total liquidated amount of 24.5 million euros on 69 taxpayers who were artificially located in almost thirty countries and for whom it has been determined that they actually had effective residence in Spain.
The relevance of information from abroad
In recent years, the Agency's various delegations have seen their capacity for action on undeclared income reinforced by successive European directives on the automatic exchange of information, standardized OECD mechanisms and other agreements.
Last year, the inspection control on taxpayers for whom information on financial accounts abroad has been received through the European 'DAC2' directive, the OECD CRS standard and the 'Fatca' agreement with the US allowed the settlement of 132 million of euros to 382 taxpayers, so that since 2017, the year in which this information began to be received, the Agency's Inspection area has already settled 762 million to 2,280 taxpayers.
At the same time, last year these inspection actions were complemented by controls on income communicated through a previous European directive, the so-called 'DAC1', information that the Agency has also been using to promote voluntary compliance in the IRPF declaration campaign through 'warnings' in tax data.
In this management verification phase, the actions carried out have generated liquidations by the Tax Agency and late declarations by taxpayers for a total amount of 51 million euros through more than 43,000 files, so that the accumulated figures in the three-year period 2019-2021 in which this information has been exploited in the extensive field already add up to more than 150 million euros and more than 84,000 files.
Also in order to uncover funds hidden abroad, the information gathered by the National Office for Fraud Investigation, ONIF, on the use of cards issued abroad ('offshore cards') has allowed the various territorial departments of the Agency to settle debts amounting to 79 million euros last year, while files were opened affecting 43 taxpayers with 'offshore' cards and which will offer additional results in the future.
Submerged economy
In parallel to all the above actions, last year the Agency has continued to maintain its monitoring activity to uncover hidden economic activity. Thus, in 2021 it carried out more than 2,200 inspection actions under different verification programs (the aforementioned 1,394 in the field of control of economic activities and the rest in other programs) in which it discovered hidden sales, regularizing quotas for an amount of 400 million euros.
Fees and penalties amounting to 173 million euros were also settled in almost 3,000 inspection reports for taxpayers who had previously been subject to entry and registration actions with the support of the Computer Audit Units (UAI). Last year, these units participated in more than 1,200 operations with computer dumps that facilitate the discovery of hidden income, allow for improved evidence collection and reduce the duration of checks.
Of particular relevance, also, in the field of the fight against undeclared activity is the control of underground rentals, where the induced effect of sending tax data notices to alleged landlords during the latest Income Tax campaigns continues to stand out.
Taking into account both the full effect of each notice in the initial year and the marginal impact of previous campaigns in each year, in the last six years these notices have led to the incorporation of more than one million declarations that include income from real estate capital, with a higher declared tax base of more than 7.1 billion euros and a collection associated with these campaigns of more than 860 million euros.
Collection control
In the area of control required to secure debt collection, the Agency's Collection Department has continued to promote the most qualified actions to achieve effective collection of settlements and fight fraud in the collection phase. The new and intense growth (78.9%) recorded in the number of legal actions (1,036) exercised last year for the collection of debts stands out. These actions, which have already grown by almost 150% compared to 2019 figures, and especially the criminal ones, judicialize the demand for payment in particularly serious situations of apparent insolvency, debt lifting and, in general, complex concealment practices.
There have also been 29,078 referrals of liability, 8.7% more than in the previous year and 23.5% more than in 2019; and 5,049 precautionary measures have been taken, including 1,208 agreements prohibiting the disposal of property of companies whose shares or stocks have been mostly seized because they belong to a debtor. These latest actions, essential to avoid asset depletion, have grown by 84.4% compared to 2020 and by 240% in three years.
Asset investigations continued to increase in 2021, with more than 88,500 investigation files for financial transactions, 22.2% more than in 2021 and already four times more than the levels seen in the middle of the last decade. These actions are aimed at the use of various fraudulent schemes, such as the interposition of companies or the use of front men. Meanwhile, requests for information or seizures from foreign authorities for debt collection grew by 15.4% compared to 2021, with a total of 1,964 requests, and 152% in four years.
Fight against smuggling
During the past year, the usual tasks of controlling special and environmental taxes, customs control and in the area of smuggling, drug trafficking, money laundering and other economic crimes were also carried out. In terms of smuggling, 31.3 tons of cocaine and 167 tons of hashish have been seized, 2.8 million packets and 80 tons of cut tobacco and other tobacco products have been seized, while almost 2.2 million counterfeit products have been intercepted.
The Tax Agency has also maintained its usual activity of collaboration with the justice system and with other administrations at the national and international level, and has promoted fraud prevention through information and assistance tools and cooperative forums in which the Agency participates.