Catalonia reduces tax fraud and uncovers €333M, 33% more

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

In a press conference, the minister of the sector, Alícia Romero, argued that "it is not that there is more fraud" but that the Catalan administration is "better able to detect it".

However, the Generalitat estimates that administrations collect 11.6% less than they should, a calculation made this year with data from 2022. The gap, however, is ten points below the 2014 estimate, when it 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. In the following three years, the recovered resources ranged between 286 and 295 million euros.

96% of fraud, in three taxes

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

In addition, it detected 24 false relocations, meaning 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 have boasted about the good collaboration with other tax administrations.

The "growth" of the ATC

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

With the intention of "strengthening it," the Catalan treasury has incorporated 40 employees and has opened 20 new positions for inspectors. The executive expects the full deployment 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".