Spanish Tax Debt Enforcement: The Urgency Procedure

Posted on Apr 21, 2025 in Law

Urgency Procedure: Concept and Consequences

The enforcement or urgency procedure follows the breach of the payment provision in the voluntary period, with the objective of enforcing the required equity in an amount sufficient to cover the unmet debts. Its basic regulation is found in Articles 163 to 173 of the GTL (General Tax Law).

Characteristics of the Urgency Procedure

The characteristics of the urgency procedure are:

  1. It is an administrative procedure reflecting the Administration’s privilege of self-enforcement (autotutela), allowing it to execute debts and rights in its favor, declared and established by itself, even coercively, without resorting to the courts.
  2. It is an executive, not cognitive, non-controversial, and unilateral procedure. Its aim is to collect income, not to determine the existence, origin, or value thereof, which should have been previously established. Therefore, challenging the debt’s validity is not appropriate during this urgency phase.
  3. Challenges can only be raised against the procedure itself for faults or defects in its processing. Such challenges initiate an autonomous and separate procedure, which may suspend the urgency procedure until resolved.
  4. Enforcement proceedings apply only to quantified or liquidated benefits, including those self-assessed by the taxpayer if they filed their return without payment. Therefore, for self-assessed taxes that are not declared, this procedure is unnecessary; inspections may be required first to determine the amount owed.

Commencement of the Constraint

The executive period begins the day after the voluntary payment period expires for debts liquidated administratively or self-assessed by the taxpayer without accompanying payment, or on the same day if a late self-assessment is filed without payment.

The consequences of initiating the executive period are twofold:

  1. An urgency surcharge (recargo de apremio) is accrued. The amount varies: 5% if payment is made before notification of the constraint order (providencia de apremio), 10% if paid within the period specified in the constraint order, or 20% if paid thereafter.
  2. The debt can be demanded through the enforcement procedure, which begins with the issuance of the constraint order.

Development of the Urgency Procedure

If the taxpayer fails to comply with the constraint order and does not pay within the specified time, the enforcement procedure proceeds through the following stages:

  1. Implementation of securities and seizures;
  2. Valuation of seized assets;
  3. Disposition (sale) of assets;
  4. Application of the proceeds obtained to the debt.

Termination of the Procedure

Article 173 of the GTL mentions the following modes of termination:

  1. Payment of the amount due.
  2. Agreement declaring the debt, wholly or partially, uncollectible, once all liable parties are declared bankrupt.
  3. Agreement confirming the debt has been extinguished by any other legal cause.

The constraint procedure can be halted due to the bankruptcy (concurso) of the principal debtor and, if applicable, any jointly liable parties. In such cases, if there are subsidiarily liable parties, the action will be directed against them. If there are no subsidiarily liable parties, or if they are also insolvent, the debt is declared uncollectible and provisionally extinguished until it is rehabilitated within the statute of limitations period. If it becomes known that the debtor or liable parties have improved their financial situation (‘come to better fortune’), the urgency procedure will resume. If the limitation period expires without rehabilitation, the debt extinction becomes final.