The Supreme Court annuls the obligation to file personal income tax online

2023-07-20 17:11:38

Taxpayers may resubmit the Income Statement on paper if they prefer and will not be required to do so electronically. The Supreme Court has annulled the requirement established in March 2019 by the Ministry of Finance through a ministerial order for all IRPF taxpayers to submit their declaration through the Internet or other electronic means. The judgment of the Contentious-Administrative Chamber of the Supreme Court, dated July 11 of this year, upholds the appeal filed by the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors (AEDAF) and declares the nullity of several articles of the ministerial order that established this obligation in a general way without determining “assumptions and conditions” that justify reasons of economic, technical, professional dedication or other reasons.

With this ministerial order, which was already applied to the declarations corresponding to the 2018 tax year presented in 2019, the possibility of obtaining the declaration and its corresponding deposit or return documents on printed paper generated through the Draft/Declaration Processing Service of the State Tax Administration Agency was eliminated. The Supreme Court clarifies that the General Tax Law “recognizes the right, but not the obligation”, of citizens to use electronic media, as well as the duty of the Administration to facilitate and promote their use. “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,” underlines the Supreme Court.

For this reason, the Supreme Court affirms that, in accordance with article 96.2 of the law on the right of citizens to interact electronically with the Administration, it cannot be interpreted that the legal authorization provided for in other articles of that law and that of personal income tax “allow the Minister of Finance to establish an obligation in general where article 96.2 of the Law establishes a right”.

“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 personal income tax, reaches the generality of individuals who carry out the taxable event, without distinguishing any personal condition that justifies imposing the obligation to declare and settle by electronic means,” the judges added.

The Chamber points out that the Treasury regulation should identify what characteristics or circumstances occur in certain taxpayers, which differentiate them from the group of taxpayers that justify the relevance of imposing on them the obligation to necessarily interact electronically.

The sentence revokes the previous resolution of the National Court, which did not agree with the Spanish Association of Tax Advisors regarding the nullity of imposing the presentation of the personal income tax return online.