"It's disrespectful": Tax experts criticize the limited in-person support for the income tax campaign.

BarcelonaAlthough the income tax campaign began on April 2, taxpayers will not be able to receive in-person assistance until June 2, and after that, they will have just 20 business days to receive in-person assistance. This increasingly shortened deadline has drawn criticism from tax experts, who even consider it "a lack of respect" for taxpayers.

"Starting on June 2 seems ridiculous to me," said the secretary of the Professional Association of Tax Experts of Catalonia and the Balearic Islands (APttCB), Xavier Masdéu, in a press conference on Wednesday. This expert warned that although personal income tax may seem like an easy tax, it is anything but. "The income tax manual has more than 1,800 pages," he said, and accused the administration of not wanting to assume the financial cost of having so many civil servants dedicated to this task.

Identity theft

The APttCB, which has called the media for its assessment of the income tax campaign, also took the opportunity to warn of a wave of tax fraud stemming from identity theft on online gambling platforms. These involve criminals who access personal data leaked online, open accounts in other people's names, obtain profits, and withdraw the money, allocating the profit to the victims. This information is recorded by the Tax Agency and transferred to the draft income tax return, resulting in the victim receiving a notification demanding that they pay tax on income they have not earned. Last year, there were 7,712 reports of identity theft involving gambling income.

In light of this, the experts recommend that all taxpayers who are required to file a tax return carefully review the draft and criticize the fact that the regulations do not require verification that the collection account matches the tax holder. "The information in the drafts comes from third parties that the administration doesn't verify. They should ask the gaming platforms to clearly identify the account holder with a bank certificate," Masdéu argued.

During the press conference, the main new features of the campaign were also reviewed, such as changes in the taxation of rentals and the increase in the minimum exemption to declare, set at 15,876 euros with multiple payers. However, experts advise that all taxpayers file their declarations, even if they are not required to do so, because they may be eligible for a bonus.