Lorena Gil ran a hair salon in Albacete for eleven years and closed it in December 2025. On 22 April 2026 she was notified of an assessment of her 2023 income tax for 14,000 €: income that the Agencia Tributaria, the Spanish tax agency, considers undeclared. She did not appeal it and could not pay it either. She now works as an employee in another salon, with a net salary of 1,500 € a month, and has no other assets than an account with a small balance and a twelve-year-old car. In September her bank tells her that 640 € has been withheld on the orders of the tax agency, and her employer warns her that it has received a notice of attachment of her wages.
What Lorena is asking is what else can happen. The answer follows a predictable order and, at every point in that order, there is still something that can be done.
Lorena's dates, one after another
The assessment was notified on the 22nd, in the second half of the month. Under article 62.2.b) of the General Tax Act (the Ley General Tributaria), the voluntary payment period ended on the 5th of the second following month: 5 June 2026. On the next day the enforcement period began, in accordance with article 161.1.a).
On 17 July she was notified of the providencia de apremio, the enforcement order. Because it fell in the second half of the month, article 62.5.b) gave her until 5 August to pay. She could not manage that either, and from that point what remains are the seizures.
| Stage | Dates in her case | Surcharge on 14,000 € | Late-payment interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| Voluntary period | Until 5 June | None | No |
| Enforcement, before the order | From 6 June to 17 July | 5 %: 700 € | No, if she pays in full |
| Period given by the order | From 17 July to 5 August | 10 %: 1,400 € | No, if she pays in full |
| Afterwards | From 6 August | 20 %: 2,800 € | Yes, from 6 June |
The three surcharges in article 28 are mutually exclusive: one or another applies depending on when the whole amount is paid. As Lorena has not paid in any of the windows, her debt today is 16,800 € plus the interest that keeps accruing.
What is seized, and in what order
Article 169.2 sets an order for when there is no agreement with the debtor and it is not possible to follow the criterion of how easily assets can be sold:
- Cash, or money in accounts.
- Credits, securities and rights that can be realised immediately or in the short term.
- Wages, salaries and pensions.
- Real estate.
- Interest, rents and income.
- Commercial or industrial premises.
- Precious metals, jewellery and antiques.
- Movable property and livestock.
- Credits and rights that can be realised in the long term.
That is why the first thing Lorena noticed was the account, and the second, her payslip. The car is movable property and is at the bottom of the list. In addition, article 169.5 prohibits seizing assets whose cost of sale could exceed what would be obtained by selling them, which for a twelve-year-old car is a serious argument.
How much of your pay is untouchable
The attachment of wages follows the scale in article 607 of the Civil Procedure Act. The part that does not exceed the national minimum wage cannot be seized. Anything above it is seized in bands: 30 % up to twice the minimum wage, 50 % up to three times, 60 % up to four times, 75 % up to five times and 90 % above that.
Let us assume, purely for the example, a minimum wage of 1,200 € a month. The real figure is set each year by the Government and has to be checked.
- Net salary: 1,500 €.
- Part that cannot be seized: 1,200 €.
- Excess: 300 €, all within the first band.
- Monthly attachment: 300 × 30 % = 90 €.
At 90 € a month, the debt of 16,800 € would take more than fifteen years to clear, without counting interest. That figure matters when deciding what to do next. Article 607.4 also provides for a reduction of between 10 and 15 % in the percentages of the first bands where there are family responsibilities; it is worth proving them and asking for it expressly.
Not opening notifications in the tax agency's online office or in the postal mailbox. An enforcement order that is deemed to have been notified and that nobody reads means losing the 10 % window and opens the way to seizures without the debtor having had a chance to react. If you are not obliged to receive notifications electronically, make sure the tax agency has your current address.
What Lorena can still do
Ask for a deferral, even though it is late. Article 65.5 allows one to be requested in the enforcement period until the decision to sell the seized assets is notified. But it does not stop the procedure: the tax agency can go on seizing while it deals with the application, and the only thing suspended is the sale of what has already been seized. Below 50,000 € no guarantee is required, although seizures already made remain in place. We explain it in deferring once the enforcement order has arrived.
Check whether the enforcement order has defects. Article 167.3 allows only five grounds of objection: the debt has been extinguished or is time-barred, deferral was requested in the voluntary period, the assessment was not notified, the assessment has been annulled, or there is an error that prevents the debtor or the debt from being identified. If the April assessment was notified at the premises that had already closed, for example, the third of those grounds deserves a closer look. That the assessment was debatable on its merits is no help at this stage if it was properly notified.
Propose a different order of seizure. Article 169.4 allows a request for the order to be changed if the assets offered secure payment just as effectively and quickly.
If your situation is like Lorena's, you can send us the assessment, the enforcement order and the notices of attachment through the voluntary correction form so that we can check where you stand and which routes remain open.
If there really is nothing to pay with
When the tax agency cannot find enough assets, it declares the debtor insolvent and the debt uncollectible, and with that the enforcement procedure ends, under article 173.1.b). It is not a pardon. Paragraph 2 of the same article says that the procedure resumes, within the limitation period, as soon as solvency becomes known. And that period, four years for collection under article 66.b), is interrupted by every notified collection action, in accordance with article 68.2. In practice, as long as the tax agency keeps acting, the debt stays alive.
The other way out is the discharge of unpaid debts under the consolidated text of the Insolvency Act, known as the "second chance" procedure. Its article 489.1.5º allows debts managed by the tax agency to be discharged up to a maximum of 10,000 € per debtor: the first 5,000 € in full and, beyond that, 50 % up to that maximum. It only applies to the first discharge the person obtains.
With Lorena's figures, on a debt of 16,800 €, the theoretical calculation would be: 5,000 € discharged in full, plus 50 % of the remaining 11,800 €, which is 5,900 €, which exceeds the cap; the discharge would stay at 10,000 € and she would still owe 6,800 €. It is a court procedure with its own requirements, which means reviewing all her debts and not just the tax one, and whose outcome cannot be taken for granted.
What is best not to do
- Emptying the account or putting assets in someone else's name. As well as not stopping the debt, it can lead to liability being passed on to whoever receives them, and to more serious consequences.
- Asking for deferrals that will not be kept to. An instalment plan broken in the enforcement period does not open any new window: the enforcement simply continues.
- Assuming that the attachment of wages is unlimited. It is not, and if the employer withholds more than the scale allows, it has to be challenged.
Lorena arrived too late for every window in her calendar, but not for every way out. If the debt is still in the voluntary period, the solution is cheaper and is explained in the deferral service. When the origin is a badly prepared return from earlier years, what stops it from happening again is Salama Tax's voluntary correction service.