The Canarian Tax Agency is to undertake on the spot visits for the first time in its history to detect cases of fraud.
The Agency is responsible for collecting a range of taxes and duties levied by the Canaries, as opposed to those such as income tax which are of a national nature and the responsibility of the Spanish Inland Revenue (AEAT). The taxes include the Canarian version of VAT (called IGIC), inheritance tax, and taxes levied on property sales.
IGIC alone generated a record 2.3 billion euros in the Canaries last year, contributing the lion’s share of the total tax revenue of 3.6 billion collected by the Agency.
Regional finance minister Matilde Asián has confirmed that the Agency has put in place an inspection plan which aims to visit 75 business and other taxpayers by the end of this year.
“Inspections and controls until now have been largely the domain of the Spanish tax authority but, with the increase in the Canaries’ own taxation powers, it is appropriate for the Agency to do this work also” explained the minister, adding that a lack of technical and human resources has so far prevented such initiatives.
“We cannot check everybody and everything” insisted Asián, “so we must opt for the actions that prove most effective. Ultimately, the aim is to foster voluntary compliance with tax obligations.”
Much of the background work for identifying possible cases of fraud is carried out through data checks and cross referencing of information held on numerous IT systems. However, the Agency says it is now in a much better position to back this work up with on the spot visits to premises to verify information submitted by those liable for Canarian taxes.
