Last Weeks to Request a Full Refund of the Wealth Tax

As we have already reported, the Wealth Tax is the subject of an appeal of unconstitutionality whose resolution, according to the most recent information, could be known next March.

This means that there is very little time left to request a refund of the amounts paid in the last four years, since, according to the usual practice of the Constitutional Court , the effects of the ruling usually extend only to those taxpayers who have previously challenged the tax before their Autonomous Community before the resolution is issued.

As a reminder, although it has already been discussed in previous articles, it is worth briefly recalling why the Wealth Tax can be declared unconstitutional.

This is mainly due to the modifications introduced in the Budget Law for the 2021 financial year, which transformed the tax, previously temporary and extended annually, into a permanent tax.

This modification is particularly controversial, since Budget Laws cannot create taxes or introduce modifications to them, unless there is an express authorization in a substantive law that allows it.

And was there a substantive law that allowed its modification?

Well, yes and no, since, although the Wealth Tax Law allows certain modifications through the Budget Law, this authorization is limited to quantitative aspects (exemptions, reductions, rates or tariffs), not to qualitative changes.

Herein lies the crux of the matter: if the temporary application of a tax is modified, changing from temporary to permanent, are we facing a quantitative change (which would be legal) or a qualitative change (which would be illegal)?

This is precisely the question that the Constitutional Court will soon resolve: whether converting a temporary tax into a permanent one constitutes a qualitative modification, which could determine its unconstitutionality.

For this reason, taxpayers can currently challenge, with a simple appeal to the Autonomous Community, the total amount paid for the tax from the 2021 fiscal year to the 2024 fiscal year inclusive, provided that it is done before the Court issues its ruling.

The Constitutional Court's decision is expected in the coming weeks, so this is the key moment for affected taxpayers to file the corresponding appeal and keep open their rights to a full refund of everything paid plus accrued interest.