Catalonia reduces tax fraud and brings to light €333 million, 33% more

BarcelonaThe Tax Agency of Catalonia (ATC), linked to the Department of Economy, has recovered 333 million euros that taxpayers had avoided paying to public coffers during 2025, 13% more than the previous year. The study by the Generalitat presented this Thursday only refers to taxes that it has ceded and that, therefore, the Catalan treasury is tasked with collecting.

In a press conference, the minister of the sector, Alícia Romero, defended that "it is not that there is more fraud" but that the Catalan administration is "more capable of detecting it better".

However, the Generalitat estimates that administrations collect 11.6% less than they should collect, a calculation made this year with data from 2022. The gap, however, is ten points below the estimate from 2014, when it was predicted that 21.5 euros out of every 100 were missing.

2025 was the second year in which the Catalan treasury brought to light more resources in the last decade, only below 2021, when it recovered 338 million. Sources from the department attribute this to the fact that that year, cases that had been stalled during covid-19 were reopened. During the following three fiscal years, the resources recovered ranged between 286 and 295 million euros.

96% of fraud, on three taxes

96% of the fraud detected last year was concentrated in three taxes: inheritance and donation tax – within which the Generalitat recovered 136.7 million –; wealth tax – 101.6 million –; and property transfer and documented legal acts tax – 81.4 million –. From the department, they recall that they also represent the bulk of the resources collected by the Catalan agency.

In addition, the Generalitat detected 24 false relocations, that is, companies or individuals who claim to reside in other territories to pay less tax. Of these, 16 were in autonomous communities and 8 abroad. Sources from the Generalitat have stressed that these are "anecdotal" figures and that no autonomous community stands out as a destination for these fraudulent territorial changes. They have boasted about the good collaboration with other tax administrations.

The "growth" of the ATC

Romero has taken advantage of the presentation of the tax fraud results detected in 2025 to boast about the "growth" that, as he has argued, the Catalan Tax Agency (ATC) is experiencing. "We are fighting fraud with more human resources, more technical expertise, and more technological resources," emphasized the Secretary of Finance, Antoni Fernández.

With the aim of "strengthening it," the Catalan treasury has incorporated 40 employees and opened 20 new positions for inspectors. It currently has 903 workers. The executive expects the full rollout to be ready by 2029 and to be able to collect all of the IRPF one year earlier, while admitting that this "depends on legislative modifications and political agreements."