The line that decides the price
The whole regime turns on one question: who moved first?
| You file, with no prior request from them | They write to you first |
|---|---|
| Surcharge of 1 %, plus one point for each full month of delay, up to 15 % after a year | Penalty of 50 % to 150 % of the tax not paid over |
| A further 25 % off if you pay on time and do not appeal | Reductions for agreement and prompt payment, applied to a much larger base |
| No penalty record | A penalty file opened against you |
On 1,200 € of tax and three months of delay, moving first costs 36 €. Waiting for the letter costs at least 600 €. Which is why the only bad answer to "what should I do" is "let us see what happens".
What gets put right, and in what order
The first job is working out what is still live. The limitation period is four years from the end of the voluntary filing window, so the oldest years are the ones under pressure.
- Inventory. Which forms, which years, which amounts. Very often the client believes one thing is missing and something else is.
- Reconstruction. Income, costs, nights let, cadastral values. This is where it shows whether the paperwork was kept.
- One consistent position. Everything filed has to tell the same story. Deducting on one basis in one year and on another basis the next is the first thing anyone reviewing it will see.
- Orderly filing, from the oldest year to the most recent, each return expressly identifying its period.
- Payment, or an instalment arrangement. Filing without being able to pay is entirely possible and far better than not filing, as we set out under paying in instalments.
Putting the income you forgot in one quarter into the next quarter's return. That is not regularising: it is filing two returns wrongly, and the administration treats it as an infringement rather than as a surcharge. It is also easy to spot, because the figures do not line up with anything.
The cases we see most often
- A non-resident who never filed form 210. Bought a flat years ago, nobody mentioned it, and now wants to sell. The open years surface at the notary's office, at the worst possible moment. The background is on non-resident property tax.
- A holiday-let owner who never registered. Has been taking bookings since before the pandemic. Here there is usually a VAT question and an intra-EU reporting question on top, which we cover under tourist rentals.
- A freelancer who stopped filing in a bad year. It started with one quarter and became a habit. The surcharge grows, but the penalty would be very much worse.
- A resident with accounts abroad and no form 720. Since the European judgment of 2022 the special penalty regime has gone, but there are still consequences and it is worth putting in order. See form 720.
- An estate never settled. The tax has a six-month deadline and people reach three years, with the property still in the deceased's name.
When this stops being an accounting job
Two signs turn a late filing into a legal matter, and they are worth recognising before anything is submitted:
- A notification has already arrived. A request for information, a proposed assessment or the start of a review closes the door on voluntary disclosure for that tax and that period. From then on the work is defensive, with short deadlines and a strategy that depends on what they have asked for. That is covered on a letter from the tax office.
- The amounts are very large, or something was concealed. Where the tax evaded in a single year for a single tax exceeds certain thresholds, this stops being an administrative question. Full and voluntary disclosure remains the route, but it is prepared by a lawyer and documented with great care.
We are a law firm, so in those cases there is nobody to go and find: the person who should be handling it already is.
Your case, in two minutes
Your late returns: your map of obligations
The form for this service asks only what matters here. At the end you have your map of obligations, the deadlines running against you and a fixed price.
How we work through one
Always the same way, and always with a fixed price agreed before we start:
- We review what is open and what is out of time, and tell you in writing.
- We give you a closed quote and an estimate of what will end up payable, surcharge included.
- We reconstruct the years from whatever documentation exists.
- We file in order and hand you every receipt.
- And afterwards, if you want it, you stay on the monthly fee so that it does not happen again.
That last part is optional. Plenty of people come only to fix the past, and that is a perfectly good reason to call.
What the surcharge actually comes to
The scale is set by article 27 of the General Tax Act, and it is worth seeing in figures because people imagine something far worse:
| Delay after the deadline | Surcharge | On 1,000 € of tax |
|---|---|---|
| Under one full month | 1 % | 10 € |
| Three full months | 4 % | 40 € |
| Eight full months | 9 % | 90 € |
| Over twelve months | 15 %, plus late payment interest from month twelve | 150 € and rising |
A further 25 % comes off the surcharge if you pay within the period given and do not appeal. Against that, a penalty for failing to pay over runs from 50 % to 150 % of the tax, so on the same 1,000 € the comparison is tens of euros against hundreds. The arithmetic only points one way, and it points there more strongly the earlier you move.
What this does not fix
Coming forward voluntarily deals with the tax and replaces a penalty with a surcharge. It does not rewrite the underlying position: if the flat was let without the registration the region requires, or a deposit was never lodged, those are separate obligations with their own consequences, and a tax return does not cure them. We say which of those are in play when we scope the work, because clients would rather hear it at the start.
Questions we are asked about your late returns
How much will the surcharge be? 1 %, plus one point for each full month of delay, up to 15 % after a year, with a further 25 % off if you pay on time and do not appeal.
What if a letter has already arrived? Then it is not a surcharge: there is an open procedure with short deadlines. Send it to us and we will tell you what it is and what room there is, normally the same day.
Can I file without paying now? Yes. You file and apply for a deferral or instalments. It is far better than not filing.
Does everything expire after four years? The administration's right to assess does, counted from the end of the voluntary filing window. But certain actions interrupt the limitation period and start it running again.
Is this included in the monthly fee? No. It is one-off work and it is quoted separately, at a fixed price, before anything begins.