Financial crimeEnglish-speaking tax fraud lawyer in Spain

Where the tax file becomes a crime

In Spain, tax fraud becomes a criminal offence once the amount evaded in a given tax and year exceeds the statutory threshold. Below it, the matter stays administrative. Above it, the file is passed to the prosecutor and everything you have said to the tax authority is already on the record.

This is why the crucial moment is during the inspection, not after. Statements made to help the inspector are routinely used later as evidence of intent.

Defence and regularisation

• Voluntary regularisation before the case is formally opened can extinguish criminal liability. Timing is everything.
• Quantification: the amount evaded is a legal construct and is frequently overstated.
• Intent: an error, a disputed criterion or reliance on professional advice is not fraud.
• Residence disputes, common among foreign nationals with interests in two countries.

Companies and directors

Both the company and its directors can be prosecuted. See also money laundering.

The moment the inspection becomes a criminal case

Tax fraud becomes a crime in Spain once the amount evaded in a single tax and a single year exceeds the statutory threshold. Below it, the matter stays administrative. Above it, the file goes to the prosecutor, and everything you told the inspector is already on the record and cannot be taken back.

This is why the decisive moment is during the inspection, not after it. Statements made to be helpful, or to close the matter quickly, are routinely used later as evidence of intent. By the time the criminal file opens, the defence is already working with what you handed over.

Regularisation: timing is everything

Voluntary regularisation before the proceedings formally begin can extinguish criminal liability entirely. But the window closes the moment the tax authority notifies the start of inspection proceedings, and the regularisation must be complete and truthful to have effect.

Getting this right, and doing it in time, is often the whole case.

The other battlegrounds

• Quantification. The amount evaded is a legal construct, not an accounting fact, and it is regularly overstated. Bringing it below the threshold removes the crime.
• Intent. An error, a disputable interpretation, or reliance on professional advice is not fraud.
• Tax residence. A recurring issue for foreign nationals with interests in two countries, and one that is often assumed rather than proved by the authority.

Both the company and its directors can be prosecuted. See also money laundering.