The Economic-Administrative Courts resolve the economic-administrative claims that, for more than 100 years, have constituted in Spain a special recourse for challenging tax decisions before the Administration itself. The origin of the economic-administrative procedure is in the separation between the scope of tax management in a broad sense and the scope of resolving claims against such management, which are currently called the application of taxes and imposition of fines, and the resolution of claims against said application of taxes and imposition of fines. Economic-administrative claims constitute a necessary instrument for whoever would like to challenge the decisions of the Tax Administration and subsequently access a judicial procedure, if applicable.
The Economic-Administrative Courts, despite being called courts, are not bodies of law. In effect, despite their functional independence, it must be highlighted that they are part of the Ministry of the Treasury (organisational chart), within the State Secretariat of the Treasury and Budgets and, within the latter, in the General Secretariat of Public Finance. They are therefore configured as special administrative bodies, in correlation with the uniqueness of the tax activity, with their own guidelines and characteristics as a result of their functional independence and separation from the bodies in charge of applying taxes and imposing fines.
The economic-administrative procedure has certain advantages for citizens over other challenge procedures:
- A body that is unrelated to the one that issued the decision under review is responsible for issuing the ruling, which gives it a greater degree of objectivity versus an appeal to a higher body in which the hierarchical superior decides.
- In initially more complex cases, a collegiate body resolves the case by majority, which means that it is more likely to be equitable.
- Its components are experts on the subject of the claims, which gives it a greater degree of specialisation.
- It is a free procedure for citizens and does not require legal counselling, although nothing prevents a citizen from voluntarily appearing.
Finally, it should be noted that there are also economic-administrative bodies in the Autonomous Communities and that bodies have recently been created to resolve economic-administrative claims in Municipalities with Large Populations. They have various names and do not come under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Treasury, but rather the Tax Administrations of the Autonomous Communities and Local Entities, and they are governed by their specific legislation.