This Tax Administration is intensifying its oversight of construction, renovations, and reforms in the current year
Household and commercial properties often misrepresented through financial schemes are under closer scrutiny, and the tax authority plans to crack down on fraudulent practices in 2023 through what it calls financial maneuvers. The agency will pursue taxpayers who simulate residency changes to reduce their obligations in autonomous regions. These measures are outlined in the 2023 tax control plan released in the Official State Gazette (BOE).
Regarding construction activity, the plan directs thorough declarations for all phases, from building to renovations. Jesús Gascón, the State Finance Minister, appeared before Congress to emphasize that inspections would focus on work conducted at street level, with Rosa María Sánchez reporting on the checks to be carried out.
The plan also targets residents who declare income through non-resident tax channels (IRNR) to artificially lower their tax burden. The IRNR regime generally applies lower rates than personal income tax and taxes only income earned in Spain, rather than income worldwide.
In terms of residency displacements, the plan stresses the need to maintain strict oversight: it highlights the simulation of residence in autonomous communities different from the taxpayer’s actual location, and the use of data on the true owners of opaque companies with upscale properties to ensure proper taxation of wealth.
One notable innovation is a new information and assistance model that offers services across multiple channels, allowing citizens to choose how they engage based on their service type and available resources. The agency also plans to bolster its whistleblower campaign during the filing period to reduce the number of individuals who fail to declare their personal income.
Another modernization involves reforming sanctions procedures, especially for self-assessments that do not cause economic harm to the Tax Administration or are filed after the deadline without revenue. Actions regarding the use of electronic payment methods by residents abroad will be strengthened, particularly for entities that engage in so-called virtual payments and do not participate in national financial information exchanges.
The guidelines also reference investigations into the use of virtual currencies. In response to the ongoing need to verify correct taxation, the Containment Area emphasizes encouraging actions to locate crypto assets that may be subject to confiscation this year.
Similarly, focus will be placed on identifying behavioral patterns that take advantage of low-tax regimes or structures that can be replicated or scaled for broader taxpayer use.
Plans will open for targeted efforts to define management and accounting software tools used by stores and companies and to verify that software aligns with applicable regulations. Alongside continuing priority actions from prior years, such as abuses of legal personality and the verification of intermediaries who direct the income and expenses of individuals or issue irregular invoices for operating companies, the agency will once again intensify scrutiny. It will address negative tax bases, compensation or filing based on tax credits, and any pending quotas.
The directives also reaffirm that the Tax Office will oversee the implementation of two new temporary taxes on energy and credit institutions, as well as the temporary solidarity tax on large fortunes, slated for this year.
In short, the plan outlines a broad program of enhanced compliance, higher transparency, and more robust enforcement across construction, residency, digital assets, and wealth taxation, with a stronger push toward information sharing and user-friendly services that still aim to deter avoidance and evasion. Citations: Official State Gazette announcements, 2023 tax control plan revisions [Citation: BOE 2023 Tax Control Plan].