Directives of the Annual Tax Control Plan

• The citizen will be at the centre of an integrated information and assistance model, with the possibility of choosing the service channel from a simple and visual catalogue of services, and with extended hours in the afternoons for telephone assistance.
• Navigation through Renta Web will be facilitated to correct incidents in Income tax returns before any possible action by the Agency
• The unified prevention and control model will focus on voluntary compliance, avoiding indirect burdens for taxpayers
• The Port Security Plan will be given a new impetus in the context of European initiatives aimed at combating the use of container terminals for drug trafficking by sea
• The analysis of tax collection risk will be anticipated and reinforced with coordination between areas and from advanced information processing tools.

February 29, 2024.- The Tax Agency will extend this year the control over foreign operators who sell their products in Spain through electronic commerce platforms, an initiative that is included in the general guidelines of the Tax Control Plan 2024 published today in the Official State Gazette (BOE).

The operators subject to this reinforcement of control are formally registered in Spain and are liable for VAT on the sales they make to final consumers in our country, but they are not established in Spanish territory, so they are them in these cases, and not the platforms, who must declare and pay the tax. However, the fact that it is not actually located in Spain makes it difficult to verify the correct taxation of its sales.

In order to expand this control, and in addition to the new reporting obligation of the digital platforms themselves, the flow of information on cross-border payments through payment service providers will be especially useful. But while the international exchange of all this information is being finalized, the Agency will implement a plan that includes a census review of foreign sellers to verify formal compliance with their obligations, comparisons between imported volumes and the figures declared to Customs by parcels, specific international requirements and the selection of specific operators for inspection checks.

Digital economy and 'neobanks'

The Agency will also strengthen its control actions related to the digital economy and new business models. The world's largest companies are leveraging technology and digitalisation in their various forms. This means that the tax problems arising from digitalisation are currently at the centre of the debate in tax administrations and require the remodelling of work structures, adapted planning and greater proactivity to move away from the usual administrative procedures in relation to the conventional economy.

In this same context, controls will be intensified on the so-called 'neobanks', electronic payment entities and other virtual payment systems that are usually correctly registered in the EU, but that can provide digital financial services in Spain, without having any physical presence. and apart from the obligations to provide payment information by debit and credit card, which could imply evasion or fraud schemes by those who use its collection services.

The integrated care model

Under the premise that the Agency's primary objective is voluntary compliance by taxpayers through assistance and prevention, the Control Plan guidelines point out the advances planned for the implementation of the integrated information and assistance model, where the citizen is placed at the centre of the model itself, with the possibility of deciding how they want to be attended to for each need, within the possibilities that are available in each case and at each moment.

Most information and assistance services will be provided both in person and remotely, including a single nationwide telephone service with extended hours in the evenings. A catalogue of services will also present, in a simple and visual way for citizens, all the information and assistance offered, as well as the corresponding channels that are offered.

Furthermore, this year the commitment made by the Agency within the framework of the Code of Good Practices for Tax Professionals to establish a specialized appointment for professionals adhering to the code will be made effective.

Likewise, as new developments, the 'Informa+' service for resolving complex doubts will be expanded to the scope of Personal Income Tax, a new 'informant' for Non-Resident Income Tax has just been created and the telephone service services for this will be improved. collective, while new virtual assistance tools are also created for the customs field and census risk controls are promoted in the entry of new taxpayers under the OECD 'right from the start' principle (attention to the taxpayer from their first registration). .

Notices to avoid errors and non-compliance

With the same objective of encouraging voluntary compliance, the IRPF warning campaigns will be expanded to facilitate the correction of incidents in the declarations before any possible action by the Agency. In addition, navigation through Renta Web will be made easier in order to file the supplementary declaration as quickly as possible.

Likewise, the warning campaign for potential non-filers who are required to file Income Tax returns will be expanded and will be extended to the scope of informative returns.

Language simplification

After promoting the simplification of the language of the documents most frequently used in its relationship with the taxpayer in 2023, the Agency will continue along these lines with other documents, such as deferral agreements and enforcement orders.

In the case of seizure proceedings, these improvements will also be linked to the launch of assistance schemes through telephone appointment requests and a new chat service, thus resulting in a reduction in the administrative burdens borne by citizens.

Unified prevention and control model

The guidelines also highlight the start in 2024 of a unified prevention and control model with a focus on voluntary compliance, increasing the coordination of the actions of the intensive and extensive control bodies, avoiding excessive indirect burdens for taxpayers through a census segmentation system and focusing at all times the verification of economic activities on taxpayers who present the greatest risk.

Large companies and assets

In the area of international taxation, this year there will be a boost to the figure of joint audits and the control of transfer prices (intragroup) will continue to be prominent based on an automated and comprehensive risk analysis system. Furthermore, in the area of tax groups, priority will be given to control actions on deductions, especially those related to technological innovation and those generated within the framework of economic interest groups.

In turn, and together with the already usual control of the taxation of large estates, including the possible simulation of residence outside Spain or in a different autonomous community than the real one, progress will be made in the search for new sources of information that can be subject to massive exploitation through data mining techniques and global asset analyses will be reinforced to avoid artificial divisions of activity, as well as the abusive use of legal forms to channel personal income.

Hiding income

In the field of the underground economy and concealment of activity, entries into the registered offices of companies with the corresponding administrative or judicial authorisation will continue and will be targeted at taxpayers who do not accept payment by bank means, with sales to end consumers or with external signs of wealth, assets, profitability or financial information inconsistent with what has been declared.

The focus will also be on entities artificially created to generate false invoices and on the assets hidden behind the activities of foundations. Regarding possible connections between the use of cryptocurrencies and illegal businesses or tax fraud, the strategy of gathering information through investment and payment intermediary companies will be maintained, while information derived from the new reporting obligations on virtual currencies will begin to be received this year. Actions will also be taken to identify new possible methods and trends in undeclared cash movements.

Organized crime

In parallel, the fight against organized VAT fraud schemes will continue to be promoted, and especially in the marketing of hydrocarbons, where it is expected that the Registry of Fiscal Deposit Extractors and its coordinated control between the different areas of the Agency will expel from the sector to organizations dedicated to fraud in this area.

As regards the activity of the Customs Surveillance Service, in 2024 a new boost will be given to the Port Security Plan with the collaboration of the concessionaire companies in the context of European initiatives focused on combating the use of container terminals for drug trafficking by sea, and especially cocaine. The Agency will also lead and coordinate at European level an operational action promoted by Europol in relation to drug trafficking.

Furthermore, and in addition to the usual control over the smuggling of hashish and tobacco, Customs Surveillance will reinforce intelligence work and international cooperation to detect the possible entry into Spain of fentanyl and other similar synthetic opiates.

Anticipation of tax control

In the area of Collection, the strategy of coordination with the control areas will stand out in 2024 to anticipate and reinforce the analysis of collection risk based on advanced information processing tools. In this way, the consolidation of debts in areas such as large debtors, early action to secure debts and prevent their accumulation, and the detection of safe haven companies designed to conceal assets, among other areas of action, will be promoted.

At the same time, improvements will be made in obtaining information for the seizure of credits derived from collections through POS and also the appearances at premises of debtors who continue with their economic activity without reducing their debts.