Family holidays, Rolex and luxury yachts on company expenses: How the rich evade tax
The Spanish Treasury monitors more than 170,000 uber wealthy individuals to prevent them from charging undue expenses to their companies. The Tax Agency recovered more than $502 million in 2023 through almost 1,000 audits
A trip to Disneyland, curtains from the Spanish department store El Corte Inglés and the housekeeper’s salary. These are some of the expenses that many large fortunes bill through their companies, not to mention the mansions, yachts, private jets and exclusive cars. In Spain, the wealthy use a wide range of strategies — some more sophisticated than others — to minimize their tax burden or sidestep it altogether. While some of these practices are not exactly illegal, they can involve aggressive tax planning techniques that allow the super wealthy to hide assets, disguise income and take advantage of loopholes in the law. Aware of these tactics, the Tax Agency in Spain has implemented a series of mechanisms to combat them. In 2023, almost 1,000 audits led to the recovery of €502 million ($520 million), at a rate of half a million per taxpayer.
