Treasury reduces sanctions on imports and exports and offers discounts of up to 50%

The aim of this initiative is not only to reduce the maximum amounts of fines, but also to encourage voluntary cooperation by taxpayers to correct their errors.

 

Reduction in fines

 

According to the new regulations, the maximum penalties for very serious infringements have been reduced from 30.000 to 6.000 euros. Specifically, for those companies or professionals with a VAT tax base of less than 100 million euros, the fine will be 4.000 euros; while if they exceed this figure, it will rise to 6.000 euros. A very serious infringement is considered to be one in which two or more requests for information from the Tax Agency are not met within the deadline or two serious sanctions are accumulated in the last twelve months.

 

For their part, infringements classified as serious will be subject to fines of 600 euros for subjects with tax bases of less than 100 million euros, and 1.200 euros for those with higher bases. These infringements include, among others, late filing (more than one month late) of the declaration, providing inaccurate or incomplete data that generate a discrepancy of more than 30% of the VAT tax base or more than 500.000 euros, and filing declarations without transactions when there really were transactions.

 

Finally, minor infringements will be penalised with a fine of 150 or 300 euros, depending on the size of the tax base, and will apply to errors such as late filing of the declaration (with delays of less than one month), omission of relevant data or incorrect use of tax identification.

 

 

Incentives for collaboration

 

The law also includes significant reductions in the amount of fines for those who acknowledge their responsibility and correct the error before a final decision is issued. Specifically, a 20% reduction in the amount of the fine will be applied if the taxpayer admits their responsibility, and a 30% reduction if they make the payment voluntarily in advance. These two discounts may be accumulated, reaching a total reduction of up to 50%.

 

A spokesman for the Ministry of Finance said:

 

 

"With these measures we seek to encourage transparency and collaboration from companies and professionals in fulfilling their obligations, facilitating the early correction of errors and reducing the penalty burden in cases of good faith."

 

 

Area of ​​application

 

Currently, more than 275.000 companies and professionals are required to report to the State the data relating to intra-community commercial operations. The new regulation will apply to all sanctioning proceedings initiated after 1 February, except in cases where the procedure began before the entry into force of the regulation and is already in progress.

 

Furthermore, the regulations require that this information be provided to all VAT taxpayers or to those persons who, through an individual identification number, make deliveries, intra-community acquisitions or specific movements of goods.

 

With these changes, the Treasury reaffirms its commitment to control and transparency in international trade, adapting to market needs and offering incentives for self-localization of errors, which, according to the administration, will result in greater efficiency of the tax system.