Andrés Molina is a teacher in Córdoba and lets a flat in the Santa Rosa district. In his 2024 income tax return he declared 10,800 € of rent and deducted 6,300 € of expenses. In October 2026 he receives notice that a limited verification procedure has begun: its scope, the communication says, is limited to "the income from real estate capital derived from the property with cadastral reference…", and he is asked for the tenancy agreement and proof of the expenses deducted. Andrés, who is an organised man, prepares a sixty-page file: the contract, the invoices, full bank statements for the whole year, the deed of another flat he bought in 2025, the receipts from a platform where he let an apartment on the coast by the day, and a letter explaining his family circumstances. He wants to show good faith. What he is about to show is something else.
The scope is the perimeter of the conversation
Article 137.2 of the Ley General Tributaria, Spain's General Tax Law, requires the start of a limited verification procedure to be notified by a communication stating "the nature and scope" of the proceedings. Article 87.3.b) of the Regulations on tax management and inspection (Royal Decree 1065/2007) specifies that it must state the object of the procedure, with the specific tax obligations or items and the periods concerned.
That scope is not a formality. It is the perimeter within which the authorities verify and within which you reply. In Andrés's case: one tax (IRPF, Spanish personal income tax), one year (2024) and one item (the income from a specific property). Everything outside it is not being verified in that procedure.
The authorities can widen the scope, but on conditions: article 164.1 of the Regulations requires a reasoned decision, notified, and adopted before the period for arguments opens. It is not enough that something you provide catches their interest.
What you do have to provide
The practical rule is to answer what is asked, completely, in order and within the deadline. In Andrés's case:
| Expense deducted | Amount | Document that justifies it |
|---|---|---|
| Interest on the loan for the flat | 1,900 € | The bank's interest certificate for 2024 and the loan deed |
| IBI (the municipal property tax) | 480 € | Bill and proof of payment |
| Owners' association service charges | 720 € | Receipts or a certificate from the property manager |
| Home insurance | 310 € | Policy and receipt |
| Repair of blinds and plumbing | 1,240 € | Invoices showing the supplier's tax number, and proof of payment |
| Depreciation | 1,650 € | Purchase deed and IBI bill with the cadastral breakdown |
| Total | 6,300 € |
With depreciation it is worth explaining the calculation, because it is the item most often reviewed. Article 14.2.a) of the IRPF Regulations limits it to 3 % of the higher of the acquisition cost and the cadastral value, in both cases excluding the land. If Andrés bought for 92,000 € including costs, and the IBI bill attributes 60 % of the total cadastral value to the building, the apportionment gives a building value of 55,200 €. 3 % of that is 1,656 €; he declared 1,650. Setting out this calculation in one line saves a second request.
As well as the documents, a short covering letter linking each expense to its receipt is usually worthwhile. It is not compulsory, but it means the verification can be read in ten minutes instead of an hour, and it reduces the risk of something going astray.
What you may choose not to provide
Article 99.2 of the General Tax Law recognises the right not to submit two kinds of documents:
- Those "not required by the tax rules".
- Those you have already submitted and that are in the hands of the authority dealing with the case.
If the Agency already has your return, there is no need to send it. If it asks you for something no rule obliges you to keep, you can say so. Exercising this right in moderation, explaining why something is not being provided, is not obstruction.
There is a nuance with bank movements. Article 136.3 prevents third parties from being asked, in a limited verification procedure, for information on financial movements, but allows the taxpayer to be asked for "documentary proof of financial transactions that affect the tax base or the tax due". That authorises them to ask you for proof of payment of the repair. It does not authorise them to ask you for a full year's statement, nor does it justify your sending one.
When the procedure ends, the decision prevents a new regularisation "in relation to the object verified" (article 140.1). That effect protects only what was within the scope. The receipts for the apartment on the coast or the 2025 purchase fall outside it: if the authorities see something in them worth reviewing, they can open another procedure on that year or that income without the first one standing in the way.
Why the sixty-page file is a mistake
Andrés wanted transparency. But with that bundle:
- He opens up 2025 ahead of time. The income from the platform for the apartment on the coast belongs to another year and another type of income. If there were any error in it, the best course would be to correct it himself with a surcharge; placing it in the hands of the authorities within a procedure complicates that possibility. The difference is explained in the difference between a notice letter and a formal request.
- He dilutes what matters. The invoice for the blinds ends up among forty pages of statements. Whoever reviews the file may not find it.
- He provides information he does not control. An annual statement contains transfers that someone may ask about: where they came from or where they went. Each one needs an explanation that was not in the script.
- The personal letter is not evidence. Family circumstances may matter at another stage, for instance for a penalty, but they do not justify an expense.
The guide on what you answer and what you do not develops this approach with more examples.
If a document is missing
If something that has been requested does not exist or is beyond your reach, say so in writing, with the reason and whatever alternative evidence you have. For lost invoices, the supplier can issue a duplicate; for cash payments, there may be other indications. If more time is needed to get it, the route is the extension under article 91 of the Regulations, explained in can I ask for more time. Keeping quiet about what is missing has worse consequences, as can be seen in what happens if I do not reply.
If the request is based on information a third party attributes to you, for instance a platform or a payer, and you believe it is wrong, article 92.2 of the Regulations gives you fifteen days from when it is shown to you to argue that it is inaccurate. That is a separate period, not to be confused with the one in the request.
You can send the communication starting the procedure and the documents you have through the letter-from-Hacienda form. The first thing done is to read the scope and separate what is answered from what is not.
And if you are asked for documents from many years ago
Some requests ask for papers from years that appear to be time-barred: the purchase deed from twenty years ago, the invoices for works done ten years ago. That is not always going too far. Article 70.3 of the General Tax Law keeps in place the obligation to justify information that comes from time-barred periods when it has an effect on one that is not, such as the acquisition value of a property that is being depreciated or is sold now. When you can refuse to provide something and when you cannot is explained in they are asking me for papers from five years ago.
Preparing replies to formal requests, tailored to the scope of each procedure, is described on the Salama Tax page on letters from Hacienda, the Spanish tax office.