Fraudulent tax relocations to Madrid fall and those from abroad grow

In the midst of the debate on the fiscal dumping of Madrid, the fraudulent fiscal relocations detected by the Generalitat in 2021 fell from 26 to 20, at the same time that those destined abroad grew: from 13 in 2020 to 25 last year .

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
23 May 2022 Monday 04:01
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Fraudulent tax relocations to Madrid fall and those from abroad grow

In the midst of the debate on the fiscal dumping of Madrid, the fraudulent fiscal relocations detected by the Generalitat in 2021 fell from 26 to 20, at the same time that those destined abroad grew: from 13 in 2020 to 25 last year . In total there were 45 files, which is expected to recover about 29 million euros.

Although the Government has not reported to which community the taxpayers who had committed fraud had been relocated, historically the vast majority was to Madrid. The Madrid community is where the lowest IPRF in Spain is paid, the lowest inheritance tax and is exempt from wealth tax.

For a few years now, the ATC has been ex officio analyzing all changes of residence of high net worth individuals in search of fiscal relocations. Between 2019 and 2020, 77 infraction reports were issued. The data have been presented this morning by the Minister of Economy, Jaume Giró.

According to a report made public, the Generalitat, through the Tax Agency of Catalonia (ATC), brought out 338.5 million euros from tax fraud last year, 55% more than in 2020. It is the highest number of recovery of resources since 2015.

The ATC, with a workforce of 799 people, carried out a total of 52,913 collection, management and inspection actions last year, and the average amount per action was 6,396 euros, 39% more than in 2020 and the most also raised since 2015, reports Efe. The volume of fraud discovered in 2021 represents a qualitative leap in the historical series of the Catalan treasury, since the record until now was 218.9 million that surfaced in 2020, and in previous years the volumes of fraud discovered were around 200 million or slightly below this figure.

Giró explained that most of the fictitious changes of residence that the ATC has detected are "abroad".

Regarding control over assets located abroad, the amount of fraud discovered was 22.1 million in 2021, 84% more than in 2020.

The ATC carries out these inspection tasks on its own and assigned taxes that it manages, and among these, the Inheritance and Donations tax was the one that showed the greatest volume of fraud.

Specifically, of the 338.5 million euros of tax fraud discovered by the ATC in 2021, Successions and Donations contributed 146 million, 37.2% more than in 2020.

Second place was occupied by Wealth Tax, with 100.8 million fraud discovered, and third place was for Property Transfers and Documented Legal Acts, with 86.9 million surfaced, while fraud in other taxes contributed 4.8 million.

All in all, the Property Transfer Tax and Documented Legal Acts generate 64% of the actions, a total of 33,975.

Faced with the "political groups" and others of a "non-political" nature that insist "on the mantra that Catalonia is a fiscal hell", Minister Giró has guaranteed that he intends Catalonia to be "a hell for tax fraudsters".

"We will put all the means to fight against the most corrosive social behavior that can occur," said Giró, who recalled that the ATC has a selective process underway to incorporate 20 new tax inspectors and another 120 tax managers.

Likewise, Giró has highlighted that "a State structure" such as the ATC uses the data it has at its disposal only for "legitimate purposes", such as bringing out tax fraud, and has contrasted that attitude with that of the State, where "taxes They serve to finance espionage of the lowest order", he underlined in reference to the controversy over the use of the Pegasus program against independence leaders.

For her part, the Secretary of the Treasury, Marta Espasa, has assured that the ATC has no forecasts of how much tax fraud may surface this year - "the best objective would be for there to be no tax fraud", she has said -, but she has explained that the The current tax fraud prevention plan expires this year, so the Generalitat will start working on the new plan in a few months, which will also be valid for four years.

For his part, Minister Giró commented that although state regulations have left Catalonia without the waste tax, he has requested by letter to the Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, to be able to manage this tax figure from Catalonia.


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