AEAT tax inspection for cryptocurrency: defence from start to finish
An inspection isn't answered like an information request. Every appearance is prepared, every document that goes in stays on the file, and the assessment and the penalty are defended separately. We work with you from the notice of commencement to the last claim.
Work out your deadline
Rough calculation with national holidays. Your notification is what counts: each step has its own deadline, and regional and local holidays can shift it. Very tight deadlines or last-minute requests may increase the cost of the service.
Where you stand
You've received a notice of commencement of inspection proceedings, a proposed assessment or a penalty decision over your cryptocurrency. Each is a different moment in the same procedure, and at each one there is still something that can be done.
The inspection is the procedure with the widest scope: it is handled by a tax inspector (actuario), it can cover several tax years and it can request information from third parties such as banks and exchanges. If what you have is an information request or a limited review, what you need is on our page about AEAT information requests.
With crypto assets, almost everything is decided by showing where every euro comes from. An inspection isn't won with an eloquent submission but with the reconstruction of your activity: which movements were transfers between your own wallets, which swaps took place and what the real cost of each sale was.
The path, from inspection to appeal
The exact dates are set by each notice. This is the usual order, and at every stage there is something to do.
Start
Start
Notice of commencement
It sets the scope: which tax years and which items are reviewed. The procedure has a maximum duration of eighteen months, extendable to twenty-seven in the cases provided for by law.
Appearances
Appearances
Requests and formal records (diligencias)
Every appearance is prepared: what is provided, in what order and with what explanation. The formal records capture facts that later support the proposal, so they are reviewed before signing.
Hearing
Hearing
Proposed assessment and submissions
This is the time to challenge it with your own figures in front of you, before anything is formalised. It is the cheapest defence in the whole procedure.
Record
Record
Agreement or disagreement
The choice determines what you can dispute later and the reductions on the penalty. It is decided once the numbers are done, not before.
Penalty
Penalty
Penalty proceedings
They run as a separate file, with their own submissions. Accepting the tax doesn't mean you have to accept the penalty.
1 month
1 month
Appeal for reconsideration or economic-administrative claim
From notification of the decision you have one month to appeal through the administrative route: reconsideration before the AEAT itself, or a claim before the TEAR or the TEAC. They are alternatives, and you have to choose.
After
After
Judicial review
Once the administrative route is exhausted, the case can go to the courts (contencioso-administrativo), with a lawyer and a court representative.
What's at stake
Late-payment interest is added to the assessed tax and, if there is a penalty, a percentage that depends on how the offence is classified.
50 %
Minor offence
Penalty on the amount left unpaid
50–100 %
Serious offence
Where concealment is found
100–150 %
Very serious offence
Where fraudulent means are found
€120,000
Tax crime
Evaded tax per tax and year above which the case may move to the criminal courts as tax fraud
The tax and the penalty are defended separately
The tax may be correctly calculated and the penalty still not be justified. That's why they are analysed separately and, sometimes, it makes sense to accept one and appeal the other.
The tax due
Argued with figures
The assessment corrects what you should have paid. If the base is inflated, everything calculated on top of it is too.
Transfers between your wallets, out of the base
Moving funds between your own accounts is not selling.
The acquisition cost, recovered
What you bought has a cost, even if the exchange values it at zero.
The penalty
Argued on conduct
To penalise, fault has to be reasoned, even if it is only negligence. Showing that you under-declared is not enough.
Reasonable interpretation of the law
If there was no clear criterion when you filed, applying a reasonable one cannot be penalised.
No concealment
Using platforms that report and moving money through your bank weigh in the classification.
What you can demand during the inspection
To know the scope
Which tax years and items are reviewed, and that it isn't extended without formal notice to you.
To bring an adviser
You can attend with an adviser or through a representative. In a technical procedure that is the norm, and it prevents an improvised answer from ending up in a formal record.
Not to incriminate yourself
In matters that may lead to penalties or criminal proceedings. It's a nuanced right, separate from the obligation to provide records of your transactions.
To make submissions
Before the record is drawn up, at the hearing stage, with whatever documentation you see fit.
To obtain a copy
Of what is on the file.
Not to provide what they already have
You don't have to submit documents the acting authority already holds: it's enough to say when and where you provided them.
To invoke the statute of limitations
The AEAT has four years to assess a tax year, counted from the end of the filing period, unless something has interrupted them.
To appeal
The assessment and, separately, the penalty.
Your part and ours
The defence starts with what you already have. This is what we need and what we do with it.
What you bring us
- Everything you've been notified: the notice of commencement, requests, signed records, the proposed assessment and the penalty decision, if they have arrived.
- Your tax returns for the years within the scope.
- Your exchange and wallet history for the period: CSV files, read-only API keys and public addresses. Never private keys.
- Bank statements for all money moved in and out in euros.
- Whatever you've already provided to the inspection, exactly as you provided it, including reports generated with software.
What we do with it
We read the file as it stands
The scope, the tax years, the limitation period of each and everything already provided. Before one more document goes in.
We rebuild your activity for the whole period
Exchanges, wallets and protocols, transaction by transaction. This is usually where the source of the difference appears: internal movements counted as sales, undeclared swaps or unreported income.
We build the evidence
Ownership of addresses, wallet-to-wallet traceability and matching against bank statements. If an exchange has closed, the on-chain trail and the euro movements make up for the lost history.
We prepare every appearance and every submission
What is provided, in what order and with what explanation. Before anything is filed, we explain what will be argued and what supports it.
We separate tax and penalty
With both numbers in front of you, we assess together whether agreement makes sense, what to argue against the assessment and what against the penalty.
We appeal if it's worth it
Appeal for reconsideration or a claim before the TEAR or the TEAC, depending on the amount and the strategy. If the cost of appealing doesn't justify what's at stake, we'll tell you.
What it costs
An inspection isn't priced by tiers: every file is different. So there's no table, but a fixed quote, in writing, before we start.
What it depends on
The scope
Which tax years and items are being reviewed.
Your portfolio
How many exchanges, wallets and protocols need rebuilding, and what state their data is in.
Where it stands
Starting at the notice of inspection is not the same as arriving with a proposed assessment or an appeal.
The deadline
With a deadline running and little time left, the work is packed into fewer days.
What has already been provided
What is already on the file shapes what needs redoing or correcting.
What is at stake
The tax due, the penalty and the appeal route worth pursuing.
Tailored
Fixed quote
You tell us about your case and send us what you've been notified.
We study it free of charge and with no commitment, and send you the quote in writing, with what it covers.
If you accept it, the price doesn't change. Only if the AEAT widens the scope do we tell you before going on.
It includes
- Rebuilding your figures for the whole period
- Preparing every appearance and every submission
- Submissions against the proposed assessment and the penalty proceedings
- The appeal for reconsideration or the claim before the TEAR or the TEAC, if it's worth it
We study your file free of charge and with no commitment
Send us what you've been notified and we'll tell you your deadline and what the defence would cost, before you decide anything.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I need a tax lawyer for a crypto tax inspection?
- For the administrative route, not necessarily. The inspection, submissions, the appeal for reconsideration and the economic-administrative claim can be handled with a tax adviser, and that's what we do: the file is handled by a registered tax adviser. If the case reaches the courts or the criminal route, a lawyer is required. At that point we provide the reconstruction of your activity and the technical report behind the figures, working alongside the lawyer who represents you.
- When is it tax fraud rather than an administrative penalty?
- When the evaded tax exceeds €120,000 per tax and year and the other elements of the offence are present, the case may move to the criminal courts. Below that threshold, the dispute is administrative. That's why the figures matter so much: a base inflated by internal transfers counted as sales can artificially push a case close to the threshold.
- Can I accept the assessment and appeal only the penalty?
- Yes, and with crypto assets it's a common strategy, because the tax may be correctly calculated while the penalty is not properly reasoned. Accepting the assessment can affect the reductions applicable to the penalty, so the decision is made with both numbers in front of you.
- Appeal for reconsideration or economic-administrative claim?
- They are alternatives: if you file one, you can't file the other at the same time. Both have a one-month deadline from notification. Reconsideration is decided by the AEAT itself. The claim is decided by an economic-administrative tribunal, the TEAR or the TEAC depending on the amount, and it later opens the way to the courts. We choose based on the grounds and what's at stake.
- Does appealing suspend payment?
- Not automatically. Suspension usually requires a guarantee, although penalties appealed in time have their own rules. It's one of the first things to sort out, because it affects your cash flow while the procedure lasts.
- Can the Spanish tax authority see my self-custody wallets?
- The blockchain is public: anyone can see the movements of an address. What isn't public is who owns it, but the AEAT cross-checks what exchanges and banks report and has analysis tools to attribute addresses. It's best to assume traceability exists and use it in your favour.
- How much does defence in an inspection cost?
- There's no price list: every inspection is different. We give you a fixed quote in writing before we start, based on the scope, what your portfolio looks like, where the procedure stands and what has already been provided. It covers rebuilding your figures and the defence. If the AEAT widens the scope, we tell you before going on. Studying the file and the quote are free of charge and with no commitment.
- Can you guarantee there won't be a penalty?
- No, and be wary of anyone who does. Nobody can predict how a decision will go. What we do is build the best documented position possible, explain the scenarios to you frankly, including the unfavourable ones, and file everything on time, which is where many cases are lost.
Don't provide anything else without reviewing it
Tell us where the procedure stands, which tax years it covers and what you've already provided. The first thing we'll do is review the file as it stands and tell you what deadline you have. If time is tight, call us on +34 663 482 301.