Without ethics there can be no justice and in these times it is very difficult to trust anyone's word and the facts must be proven over and over again because at every turn of the corner there is always someone interested in lying to you if they gain something from it and in the tax consultancy market, the lack of professional ethics is also common.
Unfortunately for many foreign investors, who are used to a more realistic professional ethics in their countries of origin cannot believe how easy it is to be deceived by certain individuals who, knowing the chaotic nature of our Spanish judicial system, abuse it to gain clients.
When a businessman is willing to deceive his clients and tell them what they want to hear, regardless of the legality of his advice, we must stop to think about the ethics of this character. When commercial or monetary needs exceed professional ethics we find ourselves with acts against the Tax Agency.
What many clients and professional accountants of labor and tax consultancies are unaware of is that there are 2 decrees of law that require reporting illegal activities or tax fraudsters of any tax authorities in Europe. We are obliged to be ethical and keep our advice within the law. Art. 305 of the Penal Code states:
"1. Whoever, by action or omission, defrauds the state, regional, foral or local Public Treasury, avoiding the payment of taxes, amounts withheld or that should have been withheld or payments on account of remuneration in kind, unduly obtaining refunds or enjoying tax benefits in the same way, provided that the amount of the amount defrauded, the amount not paid of the withholdings or payments on account or of the refunds or tax benefits unduly obtained or enjoyed exceeds 120.000 euros, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term of one to four years and a fine of one to six times the aforementioned amount".
"3. The same penalties shall be imposed when the conducts described in paragraph 1 of this article are committed against the European Community Treasury, provided that the amount defrauded exceeded 50,000 euros."
Another paradigm that many foreigners do not understand is that the laws in Spain are complicated. A semicolon or a period can change the substantial meaning of a law, which ends up forcing many businessmen to make binding consultations to clarify their tax doubts. This can make the law seem cumbersome, which is why many tax advisors simplify it or reinterpret it as they see fit.
That is why if you are a foreigner interested in investing in Spain, we recommend that you talk to different tax advisors, that you do not let yourself be convinced, that you make sure that not everything cheap is good and not everything expensive is the best. Give yourself time to understand that the one who tells you everything you want to hear is not necessarily thinking about you.
Accounting tax advisor for small and large companies of different commercial activities.
© Susan Cabot. Website by Hazhistoria
