The Spanish federal government continues to scrutinize its regional governments. At the height of this crisis, when three out of four self-employed workers admit that their businesses have deteriorated in 2011 and 60% are reporting drastically lower sales, the Tax Agency, an organization responsible for managing taxes in Spain, is now making these people, as well as companies, present detailed quarterly statements of their bills and payments.
The measure is a part of the Real Decreto, which introduces changes to formal obligations contained in the Reglamento General. The latter document serves as a guideline for conduct and proceedings for managing and inspecting tax revenues. The regulations affects all freelance workers that pay tax through the "direct estimation" system. About 50% of freelancers fall into this group. Given its complexity, the measure will not be put into effect until 2014.
The tax administration's main objective is to improve the efficacy of tax fraud controls. Organizations that represent freelance workers believe that it will be extremely difficult to ensure that freelancers are in compliance with the new measure.
