The European Commission has referred Spain to the European Union’s Court of Justice for imposing disproportionate penalties on Spanish taxpayers for the failure to report assets held in other EU and EEA States.

The commission first opened the EU infringement proceedings in November 2015 with a letter of formal notice, followed by a reasoned opinion in 15 February 2017. As Spain has still not complied, the decision to take the case to the EU Court of Justice was made.

Currently Spain requires resident taxpayers to submit information on all assets held abroad, including properties, bank accounts and financial assets.