The anti-crisis decree validated in extremis a few days ago in Congress contained an additional provision in which the Ministry of Finance reinforces the obligation to present the income statement through electronic means.
The tax office has been forced to clarify that the only formula for declaring personal income tax is the internet, despite a recent ruling by the Supreme Court in which this imposition was annulled in the 2018 campaign. The promoter of the appeal before the ‘ High Court was the main association of tax experts, the Spanish Association of Fiscal Advisors (Aedaf), which warns that it will fight against the rule again.
The Tax Agency (AEAT) put an end to manual declarations a decade ago. It was in the 2012 income campaign, presented in 2013, that the ministry led by Cristóbal Montoro realized that the models of taxpayers supplemented by pen were a focus of problems. The handwriting and the need to transfer the data to the AEAT’s computer files caused numerous errors and delayed returns, they remind the Agency. Thus, during the following years, the income could only be submitted by online means.
Tax advisors saw a grievance in this situation and went to court. The National Court ruled in his favor last week, endorsing his argument that the taxpayer’s electronic relationship with the administration is a right and not an obligation. Last summer it was the Supreme Court that ruled that the AEAT cannot “impose” on the taxpayer the exclusive use of telematic means to submit the annual income tax return. But the sentence is, in essence, unenforceable, because it refers only to the 2018 income, which was presented in 2019.
Aedaf considers that both decisions set a precedent and is preparing to wage a new battle against the Tax Agency against the anti-crisis decree. “We understand that extending this obligation to all citizens is not acceptable”, explains Juan Manuel Herrero de Egaña, member of the board of directors of the association, State lawyer on leave and former member of the AEAT. The tax officials will wait to check how the new obligation with the income is configured and from there, “if we consider that the citizens are being undermined, we will file an appeal again”.
Tax experts point out that, in their opinion, employers and professionals could indeed be obliged to use telematic means to declare income, but, they add, there are groups for whom it should be a possibility and not a demand, which was what they argued in the appeal won before the Supreme Court. They think, essentially, of groups far removed from new technologies such as the elderly.
In the coming days, the Treasury plans to send the 2023 income order to the public information procedure to specify the obligation to use electronic media in the campaign. The Tax Agency defends that in the last year in which it was possible to present the declaration made by hand, the number of taxpayers who opted for this modality was already minimal: 0.18%, around 35,000 citizens. Of this percentage, 60% of the declarations had errors, explain AEAT sources.
The anti-crisis decree validated and which will be processed as a bill recognizes that, even so, for now there is a “normative insufficiency” for the establishment of electronic media as the only way to present the declaration of the personal income tax And he adds: “It is necessary and urgent that there be this express legal authorization before the next income campaign begins” corresponding to 2023.
In any case, the AEAT undertakes to “ensure personalized attention to taxpayers who need assistance for compliance.
After the close of the next income campaign, the Treasury plans to assess the measures taken to check if they are useful. “The results will be communicated to the Council for the Defense of the Taxpayer so that it can present some conclusions”, the decree provides. Tax advisers consider that the assessment should be done before obliging the taxpayer to use only electronic means in the declaration.
