Agencia Tributaria
Agencia Tributaria is the Spanish national tax authority. Its full official name is Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria, abbreviated AEAT. In daily conversation Spaniards usually call it Hacienda. It is responsible for collecting taxes, processing tax declarations, running audits, and managing the registries of taxpayers and businesses across Spain.
What the Agencia Tributaria does
Anything related to Spanish taxes goes through the Agencia Tributaria. That includes personal income tax (IRPF) collected via Modelo 100, value added tax (IVA) via Modelo 303, corporate tax via Modelo 200, foreign asset declarations via Modelo 720, the declaration of activity that registers you as autónomo via Modelo 036, and dozens of other Modelo forms used by businesses, employers, landlords, and individuals. The Agencia Tributaria assigns and manages the NIF (Spanish tax identification number) for residents and businesses, and treats the NIE as a foreign person's NIF for tax purposes.
Most interactions with the Agencia Tributaria today happen online through its Sede Electrónica at sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es. You log in with your Certificado Digital or Cl@ve, file your declarations, view your fiscal data, request certificates, and check the status of refunds or audits. For things that cannot be done online, you book a cita previa at a local tax office (Delegación de Hacienda).
Agencia Tributaria vs TGSS: do not confuse them
Spain has two separate national bodies that newcomers often mix up. Agencia Tributaria handles taxes: income tax, VAT, corporate tax, foreign asset reporting, capital gains. TGSS (Tesorería General de la Seguridad Social) handles social security: monthly contributions, healthcare access, pension accrual, sick leave, maternity leave, unemployment benefit registration. The two share data with each other (your autónomo contributions to TGSS are deducted on your Agencia Tributaria IRPF declaration, for example) but they are different institutions with separate online portals, separate appointments, and separate enforcement powers. If a deadline is missed, the penalty regime is also separate.
Related terms
Hacienda (the colloquial name for the Agencia Tributaria), IRPF (the personal income tax it administers), Modelo 100 (the annual Renta declaration), Modelo 036 (the activity declaration via Censos WEB), Modelo 720 (the foreign assets declaration), TGSS (the separate social security authority), Certificado Digital (required for most online interactions with the Sede Electrónica).
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