Tax notice from Hacienda: what to do and how to respond

Receiving a notification from the Tax Agency does not automatically mean that you have committed an infringement. It may be a request for information, a proposed assessment, a resolution, the start of an inspection, a penalty, or a collection action. The important thing is to identify exactly which document you have received and what deadline it establishes.

At Gestoría G1, with in-person tax assistance in Palma and Alcúdia and online management, advisory services are provided to individuals, self-employed workers, and companies to review tax communications, prepare documentation, file allegations, and manage procedures before the Tax Agency.

What is a tax notice and why the date matters

A tax notice is the means by which the Administration formally brings to the taxpayer's attention an act or action that may produce legal effects.

The date is essential because many deadlines for responding, alleging, paying, or appealing are calculated from the valid notification of the act.

It is not advisable to classify a document solely by whether the word “communication” or “notification” appears in the header. You should read:

• The procedure to which it belongs.
• What it requests or resolves.
• Whether it requires an action.
• The indicated deadline.
• The available remedies.

How AEAT notifications arrive

The Tax Agency may serve notifications electronically and, in the cases provided for by law, by non-electronic means.

Electronic notification

AEAT electronic notifications can be consulted at the Single Enabled Electronic Address (DEHú) and on the Tax Agency's electronic headquarters.

When the interested party accesses the content, the notification is understood to have been made at that moment.

If the electronic notification is mandatory or has been expressly chosen and is not accessed, it is considered rejected when 10 calendar days have elapsed since it was made available. That rejection has effects on the procedure.

Non-electronic notification

When paper notification is applicable, the Administration applies the notification rules provided for in tax and administrative regulations. The failure to collect a letter does not guarantee that the procedure will be halted.

Therefore, if you know that there is an open procedure, it is advisable to also check electronic notifications and keep the tax address and contact details properly informed.

Who is required to receive electronic notifications

Not all self-employed workers are automatically obliged merely by virtue of working on their own account.

Among the obliged groups are, to the extent provided for by the regulations:

• Legal persons.
• Entities without legal personality.
• Professionals for procedures carried out in the exercise of an activity for which mandatory professional association is required.
• Representatives of interested parties obliged to deal electronically.
• Certain public employees in their actions by reason of their status.
• Taxpayers registered in the Register of Large Enterprises.
• Taxpayers included in certain tax group or VAT regimes.
• Individuals registered in REDEME.
• Other groups specifically included by the applicable regulations.

An individual not included in a mandatory group may also choose to interact electronically under the terms provided by law.

The 30-day courtesy period for electronic notifications

Users included in the mandatory electronic notification system or those who have voluntarily subscribed may indicate up to 30 days per calendar year during which the AEAT will not make new notifications available to them in the DEHú.

The days must be requested at least 7 calendar days in advance of the start of the chosen period.

This system is especially useful for companies and advisors during holidays, but it has limits: a notification that was already made available before the courtesy days began follows its own count.

Most frequent types of Tax Agency notifications

Request for information or documentation

The AEAT may request invoices, contracts, books, bank receipts, or other documents related to a tax obligation.

The deadline must be checked in the request itself. In many tax procedures, a period of ten business days is granted, but "10 days" should not be used as a universal rule for any request.

The response must be tailored to what is requested and presented in an orderly and traceable manner.

Proposed assessment

In a proposed assessment, the Administration communicates the adjustment it intends to make before issuing the final act, when the applicable procedure includes a period for allegations.

This is the time to review:

• The facts used by the Tax Agency.
• The compared tax data.
• The applicable regulations.
• The documentation that contradicts the proposal.
• The calculations of the tax amount, interest, or bases.

Not filing allegations does not necessarily mean that all subsequent appeal avenues disappear, but it can cause you to lose an important opportunity to correct the file before the assessment.

Assessment or resolution

When the Tax Agency issues a settlement or resolution that ends a phase of the procedure, the document must inform about the appeals or claims that are available and their deadlines.

Before paying or appealing, it is also advisable to check whether filing the appeal suspends the execution of the act and what guarantees may be required.

Start of inspection proceedings

The communication of the start of the inspection identifies the scope and purpose of the proceedings.

In an inspection, it is important to comply with the cooperation obligations, but also to properly exercise the rights of the taxpayer. The strategy should not consist of indiscriminately providing information that has not been requested, but rather in responding completely and in a legally organized manner to each action.

Initiation of sanctioning procedure

Tax penalties do not have a universal range of “100 to 600,000 euros”. The amount depends on the specific infraction, the basis of the penalty, and the classification or graduation criteria established in the General Tax Law.

A penalty proposal must be reviewed separately from the assessment that may have given rise to it, checking whether there is culpability, whether the infraction is correctly classified, and which reductions may be applicable.

Distraint warrant

The payment order appears when a debt has entered the executive period and the Administration formally initiates the forced collection procedure.

The surcharges for the executive period are:

Attachment order

If the debt remains outstanding, the Tax Administration may attach assets and rights in accordance with the collection procedure.

An attachment order must be reviewed immediately to verify the debt, the asset affected, the amounts, and the grounds for opposition that may legally apply.

What to do step by step upon receiving a notification

1. Download or save the full document

Do not work solely with a screenshot or the notification email. Save the full PDF and, if it is electronic, also the proof of access or notification information.

2. Check when it is considered notified

This date determines the start of the calculation of numerous deadlines.

3. Identify the procedure

Check whether it is a matter of management, inspection, sanction, collection, or review.

4. Identify the tax and period

An IVA requirement for a specific quarter is not the same as an IRPF, Corporate Tax, or withholding tax audit.

5. Read the indicated deadline literally

Do not use deadlines remembered from other cases. The document must be the starting point.

6. Gather the documentation and review its consistency

Invoices, contracts, filed forms, statements, accounting books, and supporting documents must tell a coherent story consistent with the filed return.

7. Submit through a valid channel

Those required to interact electronically must use the corresponding electronic means. Other taxpayers may have several channels available depending on the procedure.

The proof of submission must always be kept.

Can I ask for more time to respond?

In certain procedures for the application of taxes, an extension may be requested.

Article 91 of the General Regulation on management and inspection establishes rules that are considerably more precise than what is usually explained:

• The extension cannot exceed half of the initial period.
• No more than one extension of the same deadline is granted.
• It must be requested before the three days prior to the expiration of the deadline to be extended.
• It must be justified that circumstances exist that advise it.
• Rights of third parties may not be prejudiced.

When the application meets the requirements and is submitted on time, the extension is deemed automatically granted for half of the initial period, unless its denial is expressly notified before the original period ends. The Administration may expressly grant a shorter extension.

Tax deadlines worth knowing

Requirements, appeal procedures, and specific actions may have their own deadlines. The deadline that legally applies to the procedure and appears in the notification always prevails.

Appeal for reconsideration or economic-administrative claim

When an act is subject to economic-administrative appeal, the taxpayer may choose to file a optional appeal for reconsideration with the Administration itself or go directly to the economic-administrative channel.

If an appeal for reconsideration is filed, an economic-administrative claim cannot be simultaneously pursued regarding the same act: it will be necessary to wait until the appeal is expressly resolved or can be considered dismissed by default.

The general deadline for both mechanisms is one month, subject to the computation rules established in the General Tax Law.

Penalty reductions: 65%, 30% and 40%

The penalty reduction regime must be reviewed before deciding whether to agree, pay, or appeal.

Currently, Article 188 of the General Tax Law provides for:

• 65 % reduction in cases of settlement agreements under Article 155.
• 30 % in cases of agreement.
• An additional reduction of 40% on the remaining penalty when payment conditions are met and no appeal or claim is filed against the assessment or the penalty.

When the 30% reduction for agreement is applied first and then the 40% on the remaining amount, the total economic reduction with respect to the initial penalty is equivalent to 58%.

This corrects the idea that "paying without appealing" simply results in a 30% reduction or that agreement alone generates a 50% reduction.

Four years of prescription does not mean that the Tax Agency can only look at four fiscal years "just like that"

The General Tax Law establishes, as a general rule, a period of four years for rights such as the Administration's right to determine the debt through assessment or to demand payment.

To determine a debt, the computation generally begins from the day following the end of the regulatory deadline for filing the return or self-assessment.

However, the period may be interrupted by actions of the Administration carried out with the formal knowledge of the taxpayer, by appeals or claims, and by certain reliable actions of the taxpayer themselves, among other cases.

Therefore, before responding to a notification saying that “the tax year is time-barred”, the case file history must be reconstructed.

Fake notifications and emails impersonating the Tax Agency

An email notifying of a notification should not be confused with the official content of the act.

The safest way to check if a notification exists is to access the AEAT electronic headquarters or the DEHú directly using official identification systems, avoiding entering banking or tax credentials in suspicious links received by email or SMS.

Gestoría G1: tax advisory in Mallorca to respond to the Tax Agency

Gestoría G1 offers in-person service in Palma and Alcúdia and provides tax, labor, accounting, and legal services, as well as online support.

Their platform allows clients to access information and documentation digitally, and the firm offers support in Spanish, English, German, French, and Italian.

For a tax authority notification, the service may include document analysis, review of prior tax returns, preparation of documentation, submission of filings, and case follow-up, depending on the contracted scope.

Gestoría G1 also offers digital certificate management, a particularly useful tool for accessing electronic procedures and keeping administrative communications under control.