The Supreme Court annuls the obligation to submit the income statement online

The Supreme Court has decreed that taxpayers are not obliged to file the income statement electronically, as established since 2018. “The Administration can carry out actions that promote and facilitate the achievement of a certain objective, in this case the use of electronic, computer and telematic means and techniques, but it cannot impose their mandatory use on citizens”, concludes the TS.

The sentence is based on an appeal from the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF), which has been directed by Esaú Alarcón and who explains that there are two relevant points in the ruling that the TS has released this Thursday. “One, the Tax Administration once again has the obligation to give the possibility of presenting the Income statement on paper and, no less important, the Supreme Court confirms that the relationship with the Tax Administrations can be electronic, but this is a right, never an obligation”.

The origin of the entire process is in the decision of the department of María Jesús Montero to make “disappear the possibility of obtaining the declaration and its corresponding documents of entry or return on printed paper”.

“Instead, the declaration must be submitted electronically via the Internet, at the electronic headquarters of the State Tax Administration Agency, by telephone, or at the offices of the State Tax Administration Agency upon request for an appointment, as well as at the offices set up by the Autonomous Communities, cities with Statute of Autonomy and Local Entities for confirmation of the draft declaration”, included the ministerial order that, as noted, dates back five years..

For the Supreme Court, however, it is not possible to impose this generality on all citizens. “And that is, precisely, what the contested Order does, since submission to the obligation to submit the return electronically is addressed to the entire collective potential of taxpayers for a tax that, as is the case of the personal income tax, reaches the generality of the natural persons who carry out the taxable event, without distinguishing any personal condition that justifies imposing the obligation to declare and settle by electronic means,” the sentence states.

This, in the opinion of Alarcón, opens the door for certain taxpayers to continue having to submit the declaration electronically. For example, businessmen and professionals. But not the entire universe of contributors. And those who do not want to do it, will have it in their hands to go back to the previous systems, among which were the declaration to paper and pen or the pre-declarations. At the time, the Tax Agency decided to eliminate these options because they slowed down processes, generated duplication problems and delayed refunds.