The 2022 income campaign comes to an end. This Friday, June 30, is the last day to file the declaration. The clueless, or those who believe they are rascals, can let the process go by. A bad idea considering the penalties and payments that can be faced.
The campaign started on April 11. Although the media or the Tax Agency itself has been hammered with the need to complete the process, more than one has not done their homework.
Aitor Fernández, a tax expert from the TaxDown consultancy, explains that it is more linked to forgetfulness than to wanting to escape from the treasury. This is the case of people with “rare income”, with rentals or sale of shares “who are unaware that they are obliged to present it.” Also when there are job changes or becoming unemployed and having two payers in the year, which lowers the limit that is required to declare. Or when you go from not being obliged to be due to salary increases or extra-salary income.
Beyond other specific situations, there are four major scenarios if the declaration has not been filed and it was required.
The first is a declaration that goes out to pay, that has not been presented and one realizes that it had to be done. As the initiative comes from the taxpayer, in these cases a surcharge of 1% is applied on the amount to be paid and another 1% extra for each full month of delay.
For example, if you went out to pay 100 euros as a result of the declaration, within the first month after the end of the rent the amount will amount to 101 euros (1% surcharge). After the first full month (already in August) it would be 102 euros (1% base 1% for a full month of delay), then 103 (1% base 2% for two full months of delay) and so on.
If it takes more than twelve months from the end of the campaign, the surcharge jumps to 15%, in addition to default interest (4.06% in 2023).
The second case is a declaration to be paid that the Treasury detects that it had to be presented and so requires it through a letter. When it is the Tax Agency that detects the error, things get serious.
In general terms, amounts up to 3,000 euros are considered a minor infraction and a penalty of 50% of the amount to be paid is faced.
In higher figures, it is considered a serious offense if there has been concealment or falsification of documents and very serious if fraudulent means have been used. In these last cases and based on recidivism, sanctions of 100%-150% can be reached. Thus, an original payment of 1,200 euros can become 3,000 euros…
The details of the sanctions are included in articles 191 and 192 of the General Tax Law.
In the event that the declaration goes out to return there are also sanctions. If there was an obligation to submit and one is responsible for remedying it, doing so after the deadline implies a penalty of 100 euros. If the person who realizes the error is the Tax Agency, the penalty is doubled to 200 euros, although it is lowered if it is paid within a short period of time.
Given the four great assumptions, the great advice is “it is better to always do it ourselves before the Tax Agency requires it, because that will be more expensive for us,” says Fernández.
In their day to day they have come across poorly made withholdings from people with low incomes. The declaration gave them a result to pay of 1,000 or 2,000 euros and by not presenting it they have ended up with 50% sanctions and having to pay 500 or 1,000 euros more. “Here there are many problems to deal with payments. These amounts, and suddenly, for many people it is a lot of money…”, explains Fernández.
In these cases, a postponement of the debt can be negotiated, although it must be taken into account that late-payment interest of 4.06% is charged. “It is always better to request a facility than not to pay,” says Fernández, since the Treasury can ultimately activate payroll or account seizures to pay off the debt. “It’s never a good idea not to pay,” he concludes.
Believing that with the final whistle of the campaign the problems are over is another mistake. The Tax Agency can review the statements of the previous four years. The rent that ends now can be reviewed until 2027.
“Four years are very long. The reviews occur especially when one year the declaration is not made even if it was required and in the following years it is completed, which causes the agency to cross data, review and force us to throw backwards”, they comment from TaxDown.
