THE ADVANCE OF 347, 184, 171 AND 345
As is already known, Form 347 is the information return for transactions with third parties where the total amount exceeds €3,005.06 during the tax year (including VAT). Form 184 is for entities under the income attribution regime, whether or not they were incorporated in Spain, provided they carry out economic activity or have income exceeding €3,000 per year.
On July 26, the Tax Agency submitted to public consultation the modification of the deadlines for submitting the annual summaries of income and withholdings through a Draft Order for the modification of Order EHA/3127/2009, of November 10.
The rationale from the Treasury is "the aim of standardizing the deadlines for submitting information returns and improving the quality of tax data (...)".
Specifically, the Tax Agency proposes that the filing of the annual declarations corresponding to 2017, that is, forms 171, 184, 345 and 347, be moved to January 2018.
OBSERVATIONS AND OPINIONS
The Professional Association of Accounting and Tax Experts of Spain (AECE) makes its contribution and observations regarding this Draft Order, making special mention of form 347, in order to address the professional interests of accounting and tax practitioners.
This Association believes that this modification not only lacks sufficient legal basis but would also contravene Article 40 of the Constitution, which states that "public authorities shall promote conditions favorable to social and economic progress.".
Additionally, bringing forward the deadline for filing these forms would increase the administrative workload and costs, leaving insufficient time to complete the declaration effectively and efficiently. This could lead to inaccurate information, worsen data quality, and even increase the administrative burden (more requests for corrections), resulting in more litigation.
At the same time, the Association of Self-Employed Workers (ATA) also considers this a new obstacle and an extra burden of work, time, and money for the self-employed. They believe that the Ministry of Finance has not taken into account the workload and excessive paperwork imposed on the self-employed in January.
It's important to remember that these declarations are for informational purposes only and do not imply any tax liability. However, filing them is mandatory, and failure to do so may result in a penalty. A penalty may also be imposed if the declaration is filed late or if any errors in the data/information identified by the tax authorities are not corrected.
Finally, this association states that this modification conflicts with what is established in article 3 of Law 58/2003: “The application of the tax system will be based on the principles of proportionality, efficiency and limitation of indirect costs derived from compliance with formal obligations and will ensure respect for the rights and guarantees of taxpayers”.
The AECE points out that, if the aim is to standardize, there are other possible deadlines established in commercial and tax regulations, and requests that the deadline for submitting forms 347 and 184 be maintained in the days between February 1 and 28.
CONCLUSION
Based on the opinions and observations of various experts, we believe it is reasonable not to approve the Project. Therefore, we consider that changing the deadline to January is not an improvement for taxpayers and will lead to a worsening and inefficiency in the processing of data submitted to the Tax Agency. However, to verify this forecast regarding the filing deadline, we will keep you informed in the coming weeks.
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A graduate in Business Administration from the University of Barcelona, she supplemented her studies with courses in customer service and corporate tax. While working and studying, she worked in sales and teller operations at La Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona (now Caixabank) in 2007. From 2010, she worked as an advisor and accountant at Fiscalsegur and PKF Asesores. In March 2017, she joined Àmbit Assessor, SL as a tax and accounting consultant.
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