Alicia Romero admits difficulties in collaborating with the State over the registration tax
The tax was chosen to train the two administrations for the transfer of personal income tax collection to the Catalan Treasury next year.
BarcelonaThe collaboration between the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) and the state tax agency (AEAT) to prepare the Catalan Treasury to assume the management, collection, and settlement of all taxes has not been easy. The Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero, has acknowledged that so far it has been "costly" to seal the necessary agreements for the shared management of the vehicle registration tax, which was agreed upon with the state in February as a measure to train in the cooperation between both administrations, since the Catalan Treasury is expected to manage it next year, and Isla with ERC.
There are aspects that must be guaranteed—such as data privacy—that complicate negotiations before ATC staff can access the AEAT platform, the minister explained. In any case, staff training will soon begin so they can access the state agency's platform, Romero said. The vehicle registration tax is a tax with low revenue collection, reaching €136 million last year in Catalonia out of a total of €777 million across the state. It represents a very small portion of the total revenue collected by the Catalan public coffers, which last year, including its own and transferred taxes and advances for participation in state taxes, exceeded €34 billion. In any case, it was decided that this tax would be used to train the two administrations for the future collection of the remaining taxes by the Catalan agency within the framework of the new financing model agreed between the PSC and ERC to elect Illa.
New parking spaces
Along these lines, the most recent agreement with ERC consists of creating 200 new positions for the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC). The goal is to give it sufficient scale to be able to collect income tax (IRPF) next year. Of the total positions, 40 were already part of the 90 announced by Romero in February, whose call for applications will be held this week. Calls for the remaining 50 will be issued gradually. All of this means a total of 160 new positions. In any case, this is only a first step, because the ultimate goal is to manage, collect, and settle all taxes.
Under the current model, the ATC collected 5.286 billion last year, the second highest amount in its history, surpassed only by the 5.362 billion in 2006, before the outbreak of the financial crisis. The sum corresponds to the Catalan government's own taxes (stays in tourist establishments, vacant housing, or commercial establishments, among others) and transferred taxes (transfers of assets and documented legal acts, inheritances and donations, wealth, and gambling). With the new proposed model fully implemented, the Catalan Treasury would collect around 60 billion euros annually, double the current amount. In addition to the own and transferred taxes, the total of those currently collected by the State, such as personal income tax and VAT, among others, would be added.
The Catalan government must also have a master plan for the gradual implementation of personal income tax management, which it hopes to have ready by the end of July, Romero explained. This roadmap, which the ATC is working on with the support of specialized consulting firms, will incorporate the need for material and human resources to adapt to its objectives. Although Romero declined to provide figures, President Isla said in Parliament a few months ago that the ATC should at least quadruple its workforce. Currently, it has about 830 employees, while the state agency in Catalonia has 4,400, which doesn't mean it needs to reach that figure, Romero stated.
Romero, who presented one of the ATC's offices in Barcelona to serve taxpayers during the income tax campaign, emphasized that the goal is to "strengthen" the Catalan agency in order to collect personal income tax next year. The campaign is a kind of test bed. That's why 102 temporary workers have been hired. Five exclusive tax assistance platforms have been set up in the four provincial capitals (two in Barcelona and one in each of the other provincial capitals) and four additional centers in Badalona, Cornellà, Sant Adrià, and Santa Coloma de Gramenet, in addition to the current ATC offices. In total, the agency is making 36 offices available to taxpayers from today, June 2, until June 30. Romero highlighted the positive response from taxpayers. Since May 6, when the telephone assistance period began, ATC staff have answered 22,268 calls, five times more than during the same period last year. And since last Friday, when the appointment period opened, 90% of visits to most offices have been completed.
