If the delay is only one month and the extra payment on the result to be paid is made voluntarily, it will drop from 5% to 1%

The Ministry of Finance wants to increase revenue by all possible means given the expansive horizon of the general budget that is coming, and part of the increase in expected collection –up to 828 million euros– will fall on the side of the fight against fraud.

The draft budget contemplates some measures that have to do directly with ordinary taxpayers. One of them has to do with the surcharges that the Treasury imposes when the personal income tax declaration –both income and assets– is made after the deadline with the result to be entered, although voluntarily and before the Treasury Inspection mediates.

Currently, if a taxpayer makes one of these extemporaneous declarations without the Treasury having yet to request it, he has to pay an additional amount of 5% on the amount to be paid, if the declaration is presented within the three months following the end of the term. established. This surcharge amounts to 10% within the first six months; to 15% for the 12 months; and to 20% once the year has elapsed. In the latter case, late-payment interest is also required.

Well then, the draft Law on the fight against fraud provides, alleging "reasons of proportionality and tax justice", a modification of the system establishing increasing surcharges of the 1% on the amount to be paid for each full month of delay without interest on delay until the 12-month delay period has elapsed.

As of the day after the aforementioned 12 months have elapsed, in addition to the accrual of a 15% surcharge, interest on late payment will begin.

In addition, the Treasury has included in the text a greater reduction of the sanctions derived from tax infractions for not paying tax debts; failure to submit correct and complete returns; Improperly obtaining statements or incorrectly allocating tax bases.

Currently, the General Tax Law contemplates a reduction of the 50% when the taxpayer, after inspection, accepts an agreement. The draft Law now raises this reduction to 65%.

What will be the effect?

According to the impact report that accompanies the draft Law, the modification of this type of surcharges could affect tax collection "significantly", although the Treasury assures that it is not possible to estimate it, since the details are not known. current income derived from late declaration surcharges, broken down according to the time of delay.

In addition, from the Treasury they emphasize that once the situation is regularized, the treasury can carry out as many inspections as it deems appropriate ex officio, which could lead to greater collection.

In any case, the text explains that the regulatory amendment includes lower surcharges than the current ones, but that the differences vary according to the time that has elapsed from the end of the period established for the declaration and entry of the declarations until they are made.

For example, if the delay is two months, the surcharge is currently 5%, while, with the new wording, it would decrease to 3%, that is, it would be reduced by two percentage points, while, for delays of more than 12 months , the surcharge would go from 20% to 15%, that is, it would be reduced by five percentage points.

What is the Treasury after?

At first glance, it might seem that the treasury will lose income with these reductions. However, sources from the Treasury assure that what it is about is promoting voluntariness when making extemporaneous declarations and admitting irregularities in the presentation of personal income tax returns.

The Treasury does not quantify the return of these measures, but on the one hand it expects that extemporaneous income declarations will increase as they have a lower cost. The criterion is that currently many taxpayers may prefer not to make these declarations in order not to pay high surcharges, hoping that the Treasury will not notice it. Because the Inspection does not reach everywhere.

In this sense, these measures would also seek to be able to dedicate part of the resources of the Tax Agency to prosecute irregularities and more complex cases of fraud, such as, precisely, those that hide some relevant assets, an area to which some 200 officials will be dedicated on time. full, or dual-use software.

If you want information on how this or other tax measures being prepared by the different administrations may affect you, do not hesitate to contact us by phone at 968 45 46 24, or through our contact and we will call you.

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