The latest data shows a record number of claims by self-employed workers in Spain who deemed they’d been taxed too much or unfairly fined. A surprisingly high amount of appeals are now being won by ‘autónomos’.
Spain’s self-employed are often slapped with unfair charges and fines. Most of the time, they are too scared to question Hacienda for fear of bringing attention to themselves and risking even more fines, or because they simply believe the appeal won’t work out in their favour.
Increasingly though, self-employed workers in Spain are taking a stand against the tax authorities.
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Official data shows that a growing number of freelancers are challenging tax assessments, penalties, and procedures that affect their daily business.
According to the 2023 Tax Administration Report, prepared by Spain’s State Tax Administration Agency, self-employed workers and entrepreneurs filed 239,177 claims before the economic-administrative courts.
This is four percent more than the previous year and the highest number of yearly claims by autónomos since records began.
Surprisingly, 40.7 percent of the claims analysed resulted in a full or partial ruling in favour of the self-employed worker, which means that you have a pretty good chance of fighting your case.
In fact, it challenges the widespread perception that appealing a decision by the Agencia Tributaria is practically useless.
Although not all appeals are successful, a significant proportion manage to correct assessments, penalties, or criteria initially applied.
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Slightly more than half of these appeals were dismissed, while remaining cases were archived or rejected on procedural grounds.
More than 84,000 appeals were related to debt collection procedures, nearly 54,700 to personal income tax (IRPF), and more than 24,100 to VAT.
For many small businesses, the lack of specialised resources and the administrative burden lead to increases of disagreements with the tax authorities, even though there is usually a willingness to do procedures correctly.
So, the next time you receive a penalty or charge that you consider to be unfair, it’s worth reviewing your files again to see what you actually did wrong. Often you may need the help of an accountant or gestor, so they can help you as the language used can be tricky to figure out, even for native Spanish speakers.
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Spain’s Central Economic-Administrative Court also registered 11,836 claims in 2023. This body is in charge of disputes on Personal Income Tax (IRPF), Corporate Income Tax, and VAT.
The distribution of resolutions at this level is similar to that of the regional courts, with a significant proportion of cases being archived or closed without addressing them.
Despite this, the number of favourable outcomes show that the administrative review is not a mere formality, but can help freelancers too and pick up on erroneous charges.
As well as the claims, there were also a sizeable number of complaints to Spanish tax authorities in 2023. A total of 11,565 complaints and 463 suggestions were registered. Many of these complaints are related to administrative services, appointment scheduling, or the processing of benefits and tax deductions.
So, even if you’re not entitled to make a claim, it may be worth filing a complaint if you feel that something is unfair or doesn’t sit right with you. You never know, in the future, this may lead to beneficial changes in the system.
