Short answer
Yes, you can file Modelo 720 late, and it is best to do so as soon as possible. If you file before receiving a request from the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT), the penalty is €10 for each data item or set of data, with a minimum of €150 and a maximum of €10,000. If you file after a request, it rises to €20 per data item, with a minimum of €300 and a maximum of €20,000.
These amounts come from the general regime in articles 198 and 199 of the General Tax Law (LGT). They have applied since Law 5/2022 abolished the specific Modelo 720 penalty regime, following the ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union of 27 January 2022 (case C-788/19). The old regime included fixed fines of €5,000 per data item (with a minimum of €10,000), a 150% penalty on the tax due, and the value of unreported assets being taxed as an unjustified capital gain with no statute of limitations. None of that applies any more: a late Modelo 720 is now treated like any other information return filed late.
How to regularise
- File the overdue Modelo 720 through the AEAT’s electronic office for every year in which you were required to file and did not.
- Review your income tax (IRPF) returns for those years. The most expensive problem is usually not Modelo 720 itself but the interest, dividends, rent or gains from those assets that you did not declare. If you correct them with a supplementary return before any request from the AEAT, there is no penalty. Only the surcharge in article 27 of the LGT applies: 1%, plus 1% for each full month of delay, up to 15% after twelve months, with late-payment interest from that point on.
- Bear the statute of limitations in mind. The general four-year period now applies. Time-barred years can no longer be regularised or penalised.
If you have already received a request from the AEAT, the Modelo 720 penalty is calculated at the full rate (€20 per data item), and the AEAT can also assess the unpaid income tax, with a penalty. Responding properly to the request, with documents showing where the assets came from, is essential.
The AEAT automatically receives account and securities data from more than one hundred countries through the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), so it is very likely to detect unreported assets sooner or later. Regularising voluntarily is always cheaper.
At Taxmind we regularise late Modelo 720 filings and income tax returns, and we can assist you if you have already received a request from the AEAT.
Updated on .
This answer is general information and does not replace advice on your particular case.