With the entry into force of the new Law 13/2023, from 24 May, several tax changes have been introduced, among which we would like to highlight the new way of rectifying errors made in the self-assessments submitted.
As is well known, until the entry into force of this new measure, if a taxpayer wanted to modify a submitted self-assessment, he had to follow two different procedures depending on the outcome of the adjustment. On the one hand, if the result of the correction of errors or rectification resulted in a higher amount to be paid, the taxpayer had to submit a self-assessment rectification. On the other hand, in all other cases, if the adjustment generated an amount to be refunded, no amount was generated to be paid in or to be refunded, etc., the taxpayer had to request the rectification by means of submitting a letter requesting the rectification.
The novelty is that the corrections that used to be requested in writing will no longer be used, and from now on, all corrections must be carried out by submitting a self-assessment rectification. This harmonises the correction process and any correction must be made by submitting a self-assessment rectification, regardless of the final outcome of the correction.
Without prejudice to the above, for practical purposes, the new correction procedure shall only apply to those taxes for which the specific regulations of the tax in question allow this new form of rectification. Meaning, with the entry into force of the Law 13/2023, a new regularisation framework has been approved. However, in practice it will only apply when the tax legislation in question has chosen to enable this new modality.
Lastly, it is important to note that, until now, regularisations through the submission of a written statement were frequently used as ¨conservative¨ mechanisms for error corrections, as they allowed to regularise situations in which there were certain legal doubts (i.e., doubts about the interpretation or application of the rule, for example) and the submission of the letter avoided the imposition of sanctions. Unfortunately, with the new submission of self-assessment corrections, this opportunity for prudent regularisation will be lost as the administration will be in a position to impose sanctions.
As a final reflection, although this new regulation facilitates the processing and management of error corrections, the possible imposition of sanctions is bad news for taxpayers’ interests, as it removes a prudent form, widely used in practice, of regularising the self-assessments of tax returns submitted.
