Tax fraud under scrutiny: Treasury strengthens investigations in 2025
This year's controls will strengthen surveillance of the underground economy, tourist apartments, and people with a higher standard of living than they declare.
MADRIDIf a person's standard of living differs from what he or she has declared, whether in terms of income or assets, the Tax Agency is likely to target him or her, or at least this is the intention of the body that, among other things, controls tax fraud and reports to the Ministry of Finance. Specifically, the Tax Agency intends to boost its control over individuals who show signs of wealth that "disagree" with their declared income and assets in 2025, as the public body explained this Monday, coinciding with the publication in Official State Gazette (BOE) of the Annual Tax and Customs Control Plan for the year 2025.
The Treasury intensifies control over tax fraud
Within the framework of the investigation and control of tax fraud, the Tax Agency aims to intensify its surveillance of transactions that may conceal changes in assets, fraudulent use of tax benefits intended for corporate restructuring, or concealment of real profits obtained after a significant economic transaction. This includes, according to the plan, strengthening inspections of taxpayers whose real standard of living is "strongly asymmetric" with respect to their tax returns.
The Treasury classifies them as outside the more conventionally relevant assets and points out that these are very specific cases. It indicates that they often use shell companies "abusively" to divert exclusively personal expenses: they place assets there that they will later use personally, conceal the rental of goods and services, or cover up income through fictitious loans.
Tourist apartments and the underground economy are in the spotlight.
Two other areas of focus in 2025 will be the underground economy and tourist apartments. To begin with, the Treasury will intensify its control over business owners or professionals who do not earn income through credit cards, even though this is common in their sector. It will also strengthen its control over taxpayers who simulate economic activity and issue irregular invoices, as well as those who receive these invoices and then obtain undue VAT refunds or generate fictitious expenses.
Another aspect that will be analyzed is the role of investors participating in associative financing structures such as economic interest groups. Furthermore, for non-residents, the regularization of income or profits derived from real estate will be promoted, as well as whether there is an "under-retention" of the income of artists and athletes.
Finally, the Tax Agency will also strengthen its surveillance of those who rent a tourist apartment through a digital platform. It will do so by identifying the property owners and the intermediaries who manage the rental, and will use the regional censuses on tourist apartments to pursue those owners who do not declare their profits.
2025 Income Tax Return: The Tax Agency's new controls
This year, the public agency is introducing some new features. In addition to deductions for rental apartment owners, there will be changes to the taxation of savings income. Here we explain all the new controls the Tax Agency plans to implement.