What is the contentious – administrative appeal? What is the procedure to follow in first or single instance?

Clarify your doubts by consulting your particular case

So far, all the resources and claims that have been analyzed fall within what we might call the administrative authority.

Both in the administrative appeal and in the economic-administrative claims, the responsible for initiating a procedure and resolving the contested issues are part of the Administration (organically integrated into the Ministry of Economy and Finance).

The administrative authority may take several years, depending on the complexity of the issue, the existence of precedents that facilitate the task of the Economic-Administrative Courts, the workload of these, the need to lodge an appeal (see section 4.5) etc.…
In any case, it is customary for the processing and resolution of the case on administrative to delay between three and seven years, or even more, especially if the claim is derived from tax audits, where there is a procedure of prior claims (see section 3.8.).

Once the administrative remedies have been exhausted, proceedings which occur in the cases discussed in section 4.8 (at the end), opens for both the taxpayer and the Administration itself, and the possibility of resort to the courts (see note to end of this section).

Overall, resources are presented and solved by any of the following courts:

a) The High Court of Justice of the Autonomous Community, when what is challenged is a decision issued by the Regional Economic-Administrative Court, in a single instance or a resolution to an administrative appeal, delivered in the field of local taxes.

b) The National High Court, when what is used is a decision issued by the Central Economic Administrative Court.

The deadline for filing the appeal is two months from the following day of the notification of the decision which is contested.

At the time of the filing of the administrative appeal, the taxpayer must simply submit a written letter (see model written in section 11.5) citing the administrative contested measure (resolution TEAR, TEAC, this or that town hall and its amount, etc...) and requesting that the appeal be filed.

Certain documents must accompany the letter, mainly the original power of representation – to the prosecutor, the copy of the resolution that is used and the copy of the letter that should be addressed to the government body that issued the act to be appealed, informing the interposition of contentious appeal.

In any event, if the Court considers that any documents are missing, it will mark a period of ten days for the applicant to remedy the defect.

Once the action is upheld, the court must ask the administration for the dossier stating all the facts of the case under appeal, meaning, at that time summoned the Administration itself.

Received the administrative record, the Court must deliver the same to the plaintiff, in order that it shall formulate its demand within twenty working days (see model written in section 11.6) then the taxpayer shall express, with due separation, the facts, the grounds and claims deducted, citing reasons, even though they had not been invoked in the substantiated resources in the administrative.

Along with the application, the taxpayer must accompany documents that directly merge his right. For procedural reasons, it is very important to accompany all documents while filing the lawsuit.

Presented the application before the Court, it must be transfered the same, along with the administrative record, the defendant (in this case the Administration), so that they answer within twenty working days. Also accompanying the appropriate documents.

Although there is a pending trial during the proceedings, in tax matters virtuality and incidence is minor, so that in many cases have not come to inquiry.

The same goes for holding the view that, in general, is replaced by the processing of conclusions (see model written in section 11.7). In it, both the plaintiff (taxpayer) and the defendant (Administration), presented a succinct conclusions about the allegations, evidence (if any) and legal arguments in support of its claims. The deadline for submission of a written letter shall be fifteen days.

In view of the briefs submitted by the parties and, if any, of the evidence examined, the Court must give judgment, estimating or dismissing the appeal. They can also declare the application inadmissible on purely formal grounds (lack of capacity, incompetent to hear the case, challenge out of time, etc..), without going into the merits of the case.

Note: The above comments are based on a premise that is the taxpayer who appeals the decision rendered in administrative proceedings.
However, it should not be forgotten that the Administration may also bring proceedings if it considers that the decision of the Administrative Economic Court is harmful to their interests.