The Generalitat’s efforts to curb financial fraud yielded impressive results last year. In Alicante, real estate activity continued to rise, while authorities intensified oversight of potential tax evasion. The Valencian Tax Office (ATV), a regional Ministry of Finance agency responsible for managing both own and transferred taxes, reported a noticeable uptick in detected irregularities and enforcement actions in 2022.
According to the ATV balance sheet, Sonia Díaz, who heads the ATV, oversaw 17,413 control, verification, and investigation actions in the province during 2022. These efforts generated 42,911,682 euros in revenue, a 23% increase from the previous year. This jump stands in contrast to a more modest overall regional rise of around 1%, as tax collections continue to expand in the fight against evasion across the autonomy cluster, which totaled 96.2 million euros in the same period.
The rise in enforcement activity in Alicante contributed to a substantial increase in total receipts from real estate-related taxes. The region reported a surge in revenue linked to Real Estate Transfer Tax and Documented Legal Transactions Tax, driven by heightened scrutiny of property deals and associated filings. Together these transactions contributed more than 1,138 million euros to the regional administration, underscoring the impact of rigorous verification on tax intake.
The ATV director noted that both fraudulent and undisclosed sales or transfers are subject to verification requirements, and that certain groups, such as younger taxpayers, may benefit from discounted rates on these taxes under specific conditions. Likewise, observers noted that some tax incentives were monitored to prevent their use to disguise the sale of property for tax purposes.
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The ATV director emphasized that the agency handles a steady stream of data about deeds signed at notaries and entries filed with land registries. This ongoing data exchange makes it increasingly difficult to conceal activities from the administration, and the flow of information is being strengthened through technologies that enable faster data migration and comparison across databases.
In total, 21.7 million euros were collected in the province as part of anti-fraud actions, including comprehensive verifications of compliance with requirements. An additional 19.3 million euros came from inspections, and 672 self-assessments by taxpayers affected by ATV actions contributed another 1.8 million euros.
Heritage
While the Alicante increase was largely driven by a spike in real estate activity, the regional fraud strategy also delivered strong results in the inheritance and donations sector. Inheritance-related payments accounted for 42.3 million euros of the 96 million euros collected through transfers, with the Generalitat exercising particular caution to verify that conditions were met for family-business reforms. To qualify for tax deductions, heirs must typically remain involved in managing the company for five years, both at the time of ownership change and in the ensuing years.
Control over property transfers added 36.2 million euros at the regional level, and the detection of wealth tax violations brought in another 16.5 million euros. The Generalitat is monitoring 121 open cases involving fictitious address changes registered in other autonomous regions or abroad to evade the tax. Separately, environmental tax irregularities yielded just over one million euros, contributing a modest share of 61,102 euros.
Further information remains accessible to taxpayers through ongoing improvements in voluntary compliance. In addition to control actions, the Valencian Tax Office aims to simplify obligations and accelerate information flows. To this end, the agency plans to expand proactive tax information for citizens, similar to the income campaign model, and to launch a pre-appointment telephone assistance service for ceded taxes, mirroring the state program that accompanies the income campaign.