The Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria, AEAT) is intensifying its efforts to combat all forms of tax fraud in 2025, particularly targeting individuals whose lifestyles are not consistent with the taxes they pay.

According to the newly published 2025 Tax Control Plan, the AEAT will focus on 'external signs of wealth that are clearly at odds with declared income and assets.'

The AEAT has noted the emergence of a 'specific line of action' aimed at individual taxpayers who maintain a significant asymmetry between their actual standard of living and the income and assets declared on tax returns.

The Agency highlighted cases where taxpayers enjoy a standard of living that is not at all compatible with their declared income or known wealth.

To address this, the AEAT will analyze the structures created by these individuals to determine if expenses and investments, which are exclusively enjoyed by them, are being declared as deductible expenses or investments despite being associated with fraudulent activities.

Noteworthy among the methods employed by individuals are the abusive use of instrumental companies to divert personal expenses, position personal assets within these entities, simulate leases, and conceal income through fictitious loans.

Additionally, the Agency will scrutinize operations that might reveal significant alterations in wealth, fraudulent use of tax advantages intended to maintain neutrality in corporate restructuring, and the concealment of actual beneficiaries in significant economic transactions.

The AEAT plans to focus particularly on the use of companies to deduct personal expenses, as well as the free or below-market use of company assets by shareholders and their families.

The Agency will also increase oversight on businesses declaring income without card transactions when operating in sectors where card payments are common.

Regarding non-residents, measures will be implemented to regularize income or profits derived from real estate and address under-withholding of income for artists and athletes.

This year, the AEAT will begin a series of initiatives utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the efficiency of its operations, particularly for taxpayer assistance.

Proposed improvements include the introduction of same-day telephone appointments as an intermediate option between immediate assistance and next-day appointments, and the launch of a new 'Direct Income' modality that allows certain taxpayers to file simple IRPF declarations in the upcoming tax campaign.

In 2025, a second phase of administrative language simplification will roll out, affecting over 4.1 million documents annually pertaining to VAT and corporate checks, IRPF penalties, and other areas of Revenue and Customs.

Efforts will also be made to transform the 'Census Informant' into a 'Census Virtual Assistant' and to implement 'Web Census,' a service that will assist taxpayers with activity registration and compliance with other census obligations.

Moreover, payment options will gradually include acceptance via Bizum, even in telephone and face-to-face assistance contexts, and credit or debit card payment opportunities will expand under secure e-commerce conditions.

Among the anticipated fraud prevention measures is an increase in circumstances allowing IRPF taxpayers to self-correct potential errors or omissions through a complementary declaration calculated in advance by the Agency, as well as an advancement of April communications to potential non-declarants obligated to file IRPF returns.