Tax lawyers in Spain for appeals and audits
You have received a liquidación (a tax assessment), a penalty or the notice opening an inspection, and the deadline to respond is already running. Our tax lawyers challenge what the Agencia Tributaria (the Spanish tax authority) claims from you: first in reposición (internal review), then before the TEAR (the regional tax tribunal) and after that in the administrative courts, and we defend you through the audit so that no acta is ever signed blind. A lawyer registered with the Spanish bar tells you from day one whether to appeal, to pay or to apply for the debt to be suspended.
What we handle
The tax office is claiming your company's debt from you
Challenge to the derived liability decision, disputing both the grounds for liability and the underlying assessments, with one month to appeal (arts. 41, 43 and 174.5 LGT, the Spanish general tax act).
You are held liable for an asset put in your name
Defence against joint liability for concealment of assets under art. 42.2.a) LGT, which drags in penalties and surcharges and is fought on the question of intent.
A 50 % penalty for one box filled in wrongly
Annulment for failure to reason culpability and for reasonable interpretation of the rule, with the six month lapse of the penalty file as a further argument (arts. 179.2.d) and 211 LGT).
An inspection has opened and you do not know what to hand over
We run the file from the first information request to the signing of the acta, with fifteen days for submissions and control of the eighteen month statutory maximum (arts. 150 and 157 LGT).
Inspectors turned up at your premises unannounced
Appeal against the court order authorising entry and nullity of the evidence obtained with it (art. 113 LGT, art. 8.6 LJCA and art. 18.2 of the Spanish Constitution, after the Supreme Court ruling of 1 October 2020).
An asset of yours is seized for someone else's tax debt
Third party ownership claim within the enforcement procedure, which suspends the seizure of that asset, filed before it goes to auction (art. 165 LGT and the Spanish collection regulations).
Your file is sent to the prosecutor as tax fraud
Criminal defence where the unpaid tax exceeds 120,000 euros per year and per tax, with full voluntary regularisation as a complete defence (arts. 305 and 305 bis of the Spanish criminal code).
How we work on it
The work starts with the calendar and with the file. We check the exact notification date, because almost everything is decided within one month, and we request the full administrative file, which is where the defects that win the case usually sit and which never appear in the notice you received. From there the lawyer tells you three things before you decide anything: whether the substance has legs, whether there is a usable procedural defect (unreasoned culpability, an inspection that overran its deadline, a notification served incorrectly) and what waiting costs you, because interest and the enforcement surcharge keep running while the dispute is live. Then the route is chosen: reposición is optional and fast, the claim before the TEAR is what opens the door to the administrative courts, and in parallel we apply for suspension of the debt, with a guarantee or without one while a penalty is not yet final. If the matter is still at audit stage, the game is played before the assessment is even issued: what is answered, what is produced and what is not signed. Every submission is drafted and signed by the lawyer who studied your file.
Your matter is quoted after the consultation, because every case is different. The consultation fee is credited in full against the engagement if you go ahead.
Frequently asked questions
How long do I have to appeal an assessment or a penalty?
One month from the day after service, whether you choose reposición or go straight to the economic administrative claim before the TEAR. If the TEAR rules against you, you have two months to go to the administrative courts. If it has not ruled within a year, you may either wait for the decision or treat it as dismissed by silence and move on, and that choice should be calculated rather than improvised.
If I appeal, do I have to pay while it is decided?
Penalties, no: appealing in time suspends enforcement automatically and without any guarantee for as long as they are not final in the administrative route. Assessments can still be enforced unless suspension is obtained by providing a guarantee, usually a bank bond or a mortgage, or without one where the act contains an arithmetical error or is void. Getting this right on day one is half the case.
Can I appeal on my own, without a lawyer?
The law lets you do it in the administrative route, but it is worth knowing that the file built in that first round is the same one a judge later reads: what is not argued and evidenced there is very hard to introduce afterwards. That is why the submission is drafted and signed by a registered Spanish lawyer from the very first appeal, not only once the matter reaches the courts.
Is it worth appealing a small amount?
Sometimes it is not, and we say so. In the consultation, 100 euros for half an hour or 200 euros for a full hour, we put the amount at stake, the realistic prospects and the cost side by side, and the fixed quote comes out of that; the fee is credited in full against the engagement if you go ahead. One factor often tips the balance: a final penalty counts as a record and aggravates the next one.
Law firm guides on this area
The dispute explained: what action lies, what deadline is running and what has to be proved.
- The tax office claims your company's debt from you
- The tax office holds you liable for hiding another's assets
- Penalised for a mistake: annulling the penalty for lack of fault
- A Spanish tax inspection has been opened against you
- The tax office enters your business without judicial authorisation
- The tax office seizes your property for someone else's debt
- Your tax file becomes a criminal case: what is at stake