Answering a formal request from the tax office is not emptying the folder for the year. It is an exercise in precision: you provide what they ask for, you explain why it answers what they are asking, and you leave everything else out. Every document sent that was not needed is a door that opens by itself, and the scope of the procedure is a limit on them, not on you.
The scope is the boundary, and it is in writing
The notice opening a review procedure has to state its nature and its scope (alcance): which tax, which period and which elements are going to be reviewed. That sentence, which usually takes up two lines and which most people skip, is the perimeter of everything that follows.
Outside that perimeter there is no obligation to provide anything. If the scope is "to review the expenses deducted in the business activity for year X", it does not reach the following year, or income, or investment income. The Administration can widen the scope, but to do so it has to notify you first, and then a new perimeter begins, which will also be in writing.
Before looking for a single piece of paper. All the work that follows consists of deciding what falls inside and what falls outside, and that cannot be done without knowing exactly where the line is. When the wording of the scope is ambiguous, the ambiguity is itself a relevant fact and should be treated as such.
Why providing too much is expensive
There are three reasons, and none of them is theoretical.
- It widens, in practice, what is being looked at. A document that goes into the file is a document that gets read. If a fact outside the scope emerges from it, that fact now exists for the Administration.
- It can trigger another procedure. A limited review (Comprobación limitada) can be widened, or give way to a full tax audit, if something appears that goes beyond its powers.
- It weakens your position later. An overloaded file is harder to defend, because every document allows readings its author did not foresee.
The right way to answer when you do not have something, or when what is asked for does not exist, is not to fill the gap with the nearest thing in the folder: it is to say so, explain it and offer alternative evidence if there is any.
What they cannot ask you for in a limited review
Tax management procedures have strictly defined powers. In a limited review, the Administration cannot examine the statutory company accounts: that power belongs to the tax audit. It can ask for tax registers and documents, invoices and supporting receipts.
There is an important nuance since the 2015 reform: the taxpayer may provide their statutory accounts voluntarily, and if they do, they are examined. In other words, the limit protects whoever does not give it away. Handing over the books "so they can see everything is fine" is waiving a safeguard and getting nothing in return, and it is a decision to be taken knowing what you are handing over.
| Can be requested | No, unless provided voluntarily |
|---|---|
| Invoices issued and received in the period under review | The statutory accounting books |
| Tax registers | Company documents unrelated to the scope |
| Receipts for the expenses deducted within the scope | Information on years not included in the scope |
| Contracts and statements supporting what was declared for that item | — |
How to answer about a time-barred year
Here there is a distinction that is often confused. One thing is the Administration's right to assess a year, which becomes time-barred after four years; another is its right to review facts from a time-barred year when those facts have effects in a year that is not.
- If they ask for documents from a time-barred year in order to assess it, you answer by invoking the limitation period. You answer, you give reasons and you put it on record; what you do not do is simply hand the documents over, because providing material on a time-barred year does not bring it back to life, but it does feed a file that should not exist.
- If they ask because a figure from that year affects another year that is still open (the acquisition value of a property you sold later, a tax loss you are offsetting, depreciation you are carrying forward), the request may be legitimate even though the original year is time-barred.
Telling one case from the other is legal work, not administrative work. The general rule and what interrupts the period are in the limitation period, and what interrupts it.
Always answer, even if the answer is that there is nothing
Not answering does not make the procedure go away. It has two effects, both bad: it allows an assessment on the figures the Administration already holds, which will be theirs and not yours, and it opens the door to a separate penalty for resisting, obstructing, excusing oneself from or refusing to cooperate with the proceedings.
There are legitimate answers that do not consist of providing documents: that what is asked for does not exist, that it concerns a period outside the scope, that the year is time-barred, that the documents are already held by the Administration itself. All of them are answers, and all of them have to be written down and filed through the official register.
The form of the written reply
A well-drafted reply is read in two minutes and defended for two years. These are its elements:
- Full identification: the taxpayer, the NIF (tax identification number), the file number and the reference of the request. Without this, the document may not reach the right desk.
- Express reference to the scope, reproducing the sentence from the notice. It sets the frame from the first line.
- A numbered list of what is provided, one document per number, with a sentence saying which point of the request each one answers.
- The explanation, brief, of why what is provided proves what is stated.
- What is not provided and why, where relevant: it does not exist, it is outside the scope, the Administration already holds it.
- A closing request and signature, with the date.
What is said on a call is not recorded in the file, and what is not recorded does not exist when the matter has to be argued. Calls are for clarifying where to file something; not for explaining the substance of a matter, nor for asking for more time, nor for admitting anything. Everything of weight goes through the register, with a receipt.
And keep the receipt
The filing receipt, with its date, time and the list of files provided, is half the defence if it is later disputed what was handed over and when. Files are named so that anyone can tell what each one is without opening it, and you keep a copy of what was filed exactly as it was filed, not of the folder it came from.
If you want us to prepare the reply, send us the complete request through the tax office letter form. Reading the file and giving an opinion on what has reached you is the first thing we do, and it decides everything else; how we handle it is on answering the tax office. If the reply is not enough and a proposed assessment arrives, the path continues in from the proposed assessment to the appeal.
Deciding what to provide requires reading the whole request and knowing the file. This guide explains the approach; it does not replace that analysis, and no firm can guarantee the outcome of a review procedure.
Four reactions that make a file worse
- Sending the whole folder. It is the fastest way to widen in practice the scope of what they are looking at, and to provide evidence against yourself on questions nobody had asked.
- Answering with an explanation and no documents. A story without receipts proves nothing and uses up the step. If the document does not exist, say so, and offer the alternative evidence.
- Providing documents that have been redone. An invoice issued today and dated three years ago is not evidence: it is a new problem, and of a different kind.
- Leaving it to the last day. Gathering documents from an old year takes longer than it seems, and the extension of the time limit has to be requested before the last three days of the period.
What people ask about your tax office letter
They are asking for receipts for expenses I have not kept. What do I do?
You answer saying so and provide whatever alternative evidence exists: the bank debit, the contract, the supplier's statement. Inventing a document is not an option, and not answering lets them assess on the Administration's own figures.
Do I have to hand over my accounts?
In a limited review, the Administration cannot examine the statutory company accounts unless the taxpayer provides them voluntarily. It is a safeguard that is lost by giving it away, so providing them is a decision to be taken with full knowledge.
They are asking for figures from a time-barred year.
It depends on what for. If it is to assess that year, you answer by invoking the limitation period. If it is because a figure from that year affects another year that is still open, the request may be legitimate. Telling them apart is a legal analysis.
Can I not answer if I think they have got the wrong person?
If the request is addressed to you, it has to be dealt with, even if the answer is that nothing requested concerns you. Not answering opens the door to a penalty for resistance or obstruction.