Legal Tax law
The tax law area at Asegi Abogados plans and defends the taxation of companies and individuals before the Foral Tax Authorities of Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Araba, which apply the Economic Agreement, and before that of Navarra, which is governed by the Economic Convention. We act from the advance review of a transaction through to the administrative-court appeal.
What's included
- Advance review of the tax impact of corporate, asset and property transactions before they are signed
- Annual report on the foral deductions applicable to your activity, with the supporting documentation the Foral Tax Authority requires
- Liaison and representation throughout the tax audit or inspection
- Drafting and filing of submissions on the assessment record, applications for reconsideration and economic-administrative claims
- Legal representation in the administrative-court appeal and analysis of the suspension of the debt
- Written second opinion on the tax authority's criteria and on assessments already notified
Your company is not taxed under the common regime. If its registered tax address is in Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa or Araba, the applicable rules are those approved by the Juntas Generales of each territory under the Economic Agreement; if it is in Navarra, the framework is the Economic Convention. This is not a choice: it is determined by where the effective management of the business is located. Working with a firm that handles all four sets of rules avoids applying to a foral taxpayer criteria designed for the state tax agency.
Planning before signing
We review with you the transactions that have a tax impact before they are carried out: dividend distributions, directors’ remuneration, sale and purchase of shares, corporate restructurings, acquisition or transfer of property and changes of registered address. We also analyse which foral deductions genuinely fit your activity. It is worth being clear from the outset: foral and state deductions do not accumulate, only the set of the territory where tax is paid applies, and each Provincial Council requires its own supporting documentation.
Audits and inspections
When a formal request arrives we take over the dialogue with the Foral Tax Authority from day one: preparing the documentation, attending hearings, making submissions on the assessment record and defining the scope of the audit. A well-built file at the inspection stage shapes everything that follows, because the facts accepted there are difficult to dispute later.
Appeals and litigation
If the assessment or the penalty is not lawful, we exhaust the administrative route (application for reconsideration and economic-administrative claim before the relevant foral tribunal) and continue, where appropriate, with the administrative-court appeal. In each case we assess with you whether it is worth applying for suspension of the debt, with what guarantee and at what cost.
The taxation of people, not only of the company
The shareholder and the company are one and the same tax problem. That is why we deal in the same file with foral Corporate Income Tax, the personal income tax (IRPF) of shareholders and directors, wealth and family transfers, instead of resolving them separately and discovering afterwards that one decision has made the other more expensive.
One team for four tax authorities
The tax law area works alongside the firm’s corporate lawyers and the group’s advisory team, so that the legal and the tax solutions are designed at the same time. We work from our offices in Bilbao, Donostia-San Sebastián and Vitoria-Gasteiz.
Frequently asked questions
- Is my company taxed under the foral regime or the common regime?
- It is determined by the registered tax address, that is, where the effective management of the business is located. If it is in Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa or Araba, the company is taxed under the foral regime of the corresponding territory. It is not an option you choose, and a purely formal change of address can be reassessed by the Foral Tax Authority.
- Can I apply state deductions if I am taxed under the foral regime?
- No. A company taxed under the foral regime applies only the foral deductions of its own territory; the two sets do not accumulate. Planning therefore consists of fitting the company's actual expenditure into the foral catalogue that applies to it.
- What can I do if I disagree with an assessment from the Foral Tax Authority?
- You can make submissions within the file itself and, once the assessment or the penalty has been notified, appeal it through the administrative route and by means of an economic-administrative claim before the foral tribunal. Once that route is exhausted, the administrative-court appeal remains. The deadlines are short, so it is best to act as soon as the notification arrives.
- Does Navarra work in the same way as Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa and Araba?
- No. The Basque Country is taxed under the Economic Agreement and Navarra under the Economic Convention, governed by Law 28/1990. They are different legal frameworks, even though both mean having a tax authority of their own, so the same transaction may be resolved differently depending on the territory.