The impact of inflation will cause the number of returns to be paid in Asturias to skyrocket by more than 19% in the Personal Income Tax (IRPF) campaign that began yesterday. The Tax Agency will go from having a negative balance of 4 million euros in the 2021 campaign (it returned more than what it entered in Asturias) to having a result in favor of its coffers of 23 million in the 2022 campaign.
The period to present the income statement through the internet opened yesterday. Before 1:00 p.m., more than 723,000 Spanish taxpayers had already submitted their personal income tax return, a figure that represents an increase of 22% compared to the same period last year.
The Tax Agency expects that this year 555,553 declarations will be filed in Asturias, which will mean an increase of 3.3% compared to the 2021 campaign, in which the effects of the coronavirus pandemic were still being felt. The number of positive declarations –those that go out to pay by the taxpayer– will increase this year by 19.4%, up to 192,667, while those that go out to return will decrease by 3.9%, up to 328,638. The result to be paid by taxpayers will increase from 265 to 280 million euros (5.5% more) and the result to be returned will drop from 269 to 257 million euros (4.6% less). With these figures, the Treasury will go from having a negative result in the income campaign in Asturias of 4 million to having a positive result for its coffers of 23 million.
Asturians will pay more and this is mainly due to the rise in prices. Inflation pushes up wages, but not enough to preserve purchasing power. With the rise in salary, many taxpayers skip the tax bracket and that forces them to pay more despite maintaining or even losing purchasing power. For this reason, many autonomous communities (Andalusia, Aragon, the Canary Islands, Castilla y León, Galicia, Madrid, Murcia, the Valencian Community, and the foral territories of the Basque Country and Navarra) have approved measures to adjust the tax to price increases through deflation of tariffs, the adaptation of the lowest sections or the update of the personal and family minimums. It is not the case of Asturias. The regional government has refused to deflate personal income tax and has opted to expand selective deductions.
wealth tax
In general terms, taxpayers with income exclusively from work over an amount of 22,000 euros per year are required to submit the personal income tax return. However, this limit is reduced to 14,000 euros if the returns come from more than one payer. Along with the personal income tax campaign, the wealth tax campaign was also opened yesterday. The exempt minimum is situated in this case at 700,000 euros and the habitual residence is also exempt up to 300,000 euros.
The Tax Agency foresees that in the campaign for this tax on the rich, 3,874 declarations will be presented in Asturias, 2.5% more than last year, and that the total income from this tax will rise to 21 million euros, on 6 .3% more.
Barbón encourages taking advantage of the “Asturian way”: “There have never been so many deductions in the region”
Yago González
The President of the Principality, Adrián Barbón, took advantage yesterday of the start of the income campaign to pry his chest out of what he describes as “the Asturian fiscal path”. In his social networks, Barbón urged taxpayers to “check the regional deductions well” and assured that “never like this year have there been such a number of tax deductions in Asturias that benefit the middle and working classes.” In the publication, the leader of the regional Executive shared a photograph of the different deduction boxes in the draft of the Personal Income Tax. At the national level, the start of the campaign was accompanied by the usual precautions by the authorities. Thus, the National Police shared the following message: “Already thinking about the income statement? The scammers too.” The phrase alludes to a massive fraud attempt that has reached the mobile phones of thousands of Spaniards via SMS. According to the image published by the police force on social networks, the cybercriminals impersonate the Treasury and ask the citizen to enter a link to supposedly collect a tax “refund” of 244.79 euros. “I qualify you for a tax refund. Find your form on the following website,” the message reads. However, it is an attempted fraud using the “smishing” method, which consists of impersonating public institutions, banks and other organizations in search of the citizen’s personal or banking data. Likewise, the Tax Agency informed that, if the taxpayer returns the return, he will begin to enter the corresponding amounts as of next Thursday.