The new criminal code was introduced by Organic Law 7/2012, published in the Official Gazette on 28 December 2012. The code entered into force on 17 January 2013 with respect to transparency and fighting criminal tax and social security fraud.
Under the amended law mitigation of a penalty can be obtained where the alleged tax offender admits the commission of the offence and pays the tax liability due. A monetary penalty of two to six times the tax evaded is introduced for more serious offences with a prison sentence of 2 to 6 years plus disqualification of the offender from receiving public subsidies. This aggravated tax punishment applies, amongst others, where the unpaid tax due exceeds EUR 600,000, the tax fraud is perpetrated within a criminal group or organization or the tax fraud is committed by the interposition of entities, business, tax havens or tax-free jurisdictions to conceal the identity of the real taxpayer, the tax offender or the amount of unpaid taxes. The statute of limitations for this type of penalty is established at 10 years and for non-aggravated tax penalties the limit is five years.
