Rubén Ortega is a self-employed plumber in Jerez de la Frontera. In June 2026 the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, notified him of an income tax (IRPF) assessment of 9,400 € for some expenses it did not accept. The notification arrived on the 10th, so the voluntary payment period ended on 20 July. Rubén was appealing in his head, not on paper, and he let the date go by. On 17 September a providencia de apremio, the enforcement order, arrived in his electronic mailbox with the debt and a surcharge. His question is the one almost everybody asks at that point: "Can I still ask to pay it in instalments?"
The short answer is yes. The long answer is that asking now has a price it did not have before, and that sometimes it is cheaper to pay in one go with borrowed money than to defer.
Until when the application is accepted
Article 65.1 of the Ley General Tributaria (the General Tax Law) allows debts to be deferred when they are "in the voluntary or enforcement period". The arrival of the enforcement order does not close the door. Article 46.1.b) of the Reglamento General de Recaudación (the General Collection Regulations) sets the exact limit: in the enforcement period, the application can be filed "at any time before notification of the decision to sell the assets". In other words, until Hacienda, as the Spanish tax office is commonly called, announces that it is going to sell whatever it has seized.
What the application does not do at this stage is halt the procedure. Article 65.5 of the same law says so without ambiguity: the authorities may start or continue enforcement while they process the deferral. Only the sale of seized assets is suspended, until a refusal is notified. In practice, Rubén can file his application today and still see a balance in his bank account frozen next week. If that happens, what has been seized is not returned to him because he asked for a deferral.
The surcharge the debt already carries
This is the difference compared with having asked in July. Article 28 of the General Tax Law establishes three enforcement-period surcharges, which cannot be combined:
| Surcharge | Percentage | When it applies | Late-payment interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enforcement surcharge | 5 % | The whole debt is paid before the enforcement order is notified | No |
| Reduced collection surcharge | 10 % | The whole debt and the surcharge are paid within the period the order opens | No |
| Ordinary collection surcharge | 20 % | In all other cases | Yes, from the start of the enforcement period |
Rubén can no longer use the first: the order has been notified. He is left with 10 % if he pays everything in time and 20 % in any other case. As he was notified on the 17th, between the 16th and the end of the month, article 62.5.b) gives him until 5 October.
The problem with deferring at this point is that an instalment plan, by definition, finishes being paid after 5 October. The reduced surcharge requires "the whole of the debt" and the surcharge itself to be paid before that period ends. If the instalments go beyond it, what remains is the ordinary 20 % surcharge, with its interest.
A deferral applied for in the enforcement period does not wipe out the surcharge or the enforcement order. What is deferred is the debt as it stands: principal plus surcharge. That is why the guarantee, when one is needed, also has to cover the surcharge, under article 48.2 of the Collection Regulations.
Rubén's figures, two ways
To see the effect, let us put the two options side by side. Interest is calculated here at an assumed rate of 4 % a year, purely for the example; the real rate is set each year by the Budget Act and should be checked on the Agency's website before doing final figures.
Path A: pay everything before 5 October.
- Principal: 9,400 €.
- Reduced collection surcharge of 10 %: 940 €.
- Late-payment interest: none, under article 28.5.
- Total: 10,340 €.
Path B: pay in twelve monthly instalments, starting in November 2026.
- Principal: 9,400 €.
- Ordinary collection surcharge of 20 %: 1,880 €.
- Late-payment interest on each instalment, from 21 July until it falls due. Article 53.2 of the Regulations excludes the surcharge from the calculation base, so it is worked out on the 9,400 € only: at the assumed rate, about 298 €.
- Approximate total: 11,578 €.
The difference between the two paths is around 1,240 €. If Rubén can get hold of 10,340 € before 5 October, even with a one-year personal loan, the bank's interest will most probably be well below that figure. That is not always the case, and it depends on the terms he is offered, but it is worth making the comparison before filling in any form.
If the enforcement order should never have arrived
There is a different situation that deserves attention: the taxpayer did apply for a deferral within the voluntary period and the enforcement order arrives anyway. This can happen if the application was filed and the system did not link it to the debt, or if it was filed on the last day and the order was issued in parallel.
Article 65.5 is clear: an application filed in the voluntary period "shall prevent the start of the enforcement period". And article 167.3.b) lists as a ground for opposing the enforcement order precisely an "application for deferral, instalments or set-off in the voluntary period". In that case the answer is not to ask for another deferral, but to challenge the order with the receipt for the original application in hand. The time limits for an appeal for reconsideration (recurso de reposición) and for a claim before the economic-administrative tribunals are one month from notification, under articles 223.1 and 235.1.
The guide on why the date matters so much explains, with dates, how the exact start of the enforcement period is determined.
The guarantee at this stage
If Rubén's total debt with the Agency does not exceed 50,000 €, Order HFP/311/2023 exempts him from providing a guarantee in the enforcement period too. But it adds a nuance worth reading in full: the exemption applies "without prejudice to the maintenance" of seizures already in place when the application is filed. Whatever has been attached stays attached.
Above that amount, the guarantee must cover the deferred debt, the surcharge, the interest the deferral generates and an additional 5 % of the total, under article 48.2 of the Regulations. It is a smaller percentage than the 25 % required in the voluntary period, but it applies to a base already swollen by the surcharge.
In how much can be deferred without a guarantee we explain how debts are added together to see whether that threshold is exceeded.
What to prepare if you defer anyway
There are cases where paying before 5 October is not possible, even with a loan. Then the sensible thing is to file the application as soon as possible, for three reasons.
- The first is to stop the Agency from reaching the decision to sell, which is the point after which applications are no longer accepted.
- The second is that, while it is being processed, article 51.2 of the Regulations requires the proposed instalments to be paid as they go. A schedule that starts early with affordable payments shows the ability to pay.
- The third is that, if the application is eventually refused, whatever has been seized in the meantime will be applied to the debt anyway, and the further along the payment is, the less will be left exposed.
If you would like us to review the enforcement order, the schedule and whether there are grounds to oppose it before deferring, you can send us the paperwork through the deferral form. We do not guarantee that the Agency will accept the schedule, but we will tell you which path is cheaper with your figures.
What deferral does not do in the enforcement period
Some effects are taken for granted and do not happen:
- It does not give back the 5 % surcharge you have lost or turn the 20 % into 10 %.
- It does not lift seizures already carried out.
- It does not stop the Agency from setting the debt off against any refunds due to you.
- It does not make you "up to date" until it is granted. While the application is being processed, the debt remains in the enforcement period for the purposes of the certificate, something we deal with in whether deferral costs you the certificate.
Nor should you forget that the enforcement order can be challenged, but only on the closed list of grounds in article 167.3. The fact that the original assessment was debatable is not one of them if it was properly notified at the time and not appealed.
For the full cost of an instalment plan at each stage, see how much interest you pay to defer. And if the underlying problem is that the debt is already more than can be paid in a year or two, the chapter on how many months you can be given helps to set out a realistic schedule.
When a debt is already in enforcement, at Salama Tax we start by checking whether the enforcement order can be challenged, and only then compare the cost of paying with that of paying in instalments.