Spanish Tax Agency to send millions of notices on sales, rentals and cryptocurrencies

The income tax campaign for the previous fiscal year is now underway in Spain. In this context, the Spanish Tax Agency expects to send a total of 3.55 million notices to taxpayers to remind them of the obligation to declare certain types of income and to avoid possible errors or omissions in the filing of Personal Income Tax (IRPF).

As explained by the Director General of the Spanish Tax Agency, Soledad Fernández, these notices are addressed to taxpayers who have carried out certain economic transactions that must be included in their tax return.

The Tax Agency will send 437,000 notices to taxpayers who have sold items online through second-hand platforms such as Wallapop or Vinted. These notifications also include property owners who have rented out tourist accommodation through platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.

The Tax Agency has already been monitoring these transactions since the previous fiscal year when more than 30 sales per year are carried out or when profits exceed €2,000.

In addition, 867,000 notices will be sent to property owners who have rented out residential properties for habitual use, with the aim of ensuring that this income is included in the tax return. The Tax Agency obtains this information from the autonomous communities, which report on the deposits paid by landlords.

With regard to virtual currencies, 1,243,000 notices will be sent to taxpayers so that they include in their tax return any gains or losses derived from these transactions. Likewise, 1,012,000 notices will be sent to taxpayers with income from other countries, based on information obtained by the Tax Agency through the exchange of data with other States.

The Director of the Tax Management Department, Rosa Prieto, has explained that the notices are distributed in three phases.

In the first phase, they are included when accessing tax data through Renta WEB, where these alerts are displayed to remind taxpayers of the need to declare certain income. In the second phase, during the preparation of the tax return, warnings are issued to prevent possible omissions or errors, including alerts about apparently inconsistent information and, as a new feature, about the possible application of regional tax deductions.

Finally, in the third phase, after the tax return has been filed and before the end of the campaign, the Tax Agency may send letters to taxpayers if it detects that they have modified the information initially provided. In such cases, taxpayers are given the opportunity to correct their return if they believe they have made any error or omission. According to the data provided, 50% of those who received these communications in the previous campaign made amendments.

Among the new features of this campaign is the expansion of the “Renta Directa” service, which will allow the electronic filing of simple tax returns for a potential group of up to nine million taxpayers. This service may be used by taxpayers with mortgage loans and entitlement to the state deduction, new filers and, in certain cases, taxpayers with regional deductions.

The Tax Agency expects to receive 25,251,054 tax returns, which represents an increase compared to the previous year. Of these, 62.2% will result in refunds, while the number of returns with amounts payable is also increasing.

According to Soledad Fernández, this increase is attributed to job creation and the incorporation of new taxpayers required to file a return, as well as to the increase in capital gains, particularly those linked to the sale of real estate.

With this increase in the number of notices, the Tax Agency reinforces communications addressed to taxpayers during the income tax campaign. In this context, having specialised advice may be relevant to review tax information and avoid possible errors or omissions in the tax return. At ILIA ETL GLOBAL, we provide support in the review and preparation of income tax returns, as well as in the analysis of transactions such as online sales, rentals or digital assets, with the aim of facilitating compliance with tax obligations in accordance with current regulations.