The National Association of Victims Lawyers, Anava-RC, denounces “irreparable damage” by reducing compensation “in a hidden way.” Justice studies the “observations” and says that it will seek “the maximum consensus”
The Government opens the door for the compensation of victims of traffic accidents to be subject to taxation. This is what the
National Association of Accident Victims and Civil Liability Lawyers, Anava-RC, which has sent two separate letters of complaint to the Ministry of Justice and the General Directorate of Insurance, understanding that «
would cause irreparable harm to the victims and very especially to the seriously injured ».
The association criticizes that, “in a hidden way”, the second final provision of the Draft Law on Procedural Efficiency Measures “makes an important modification” of the Personal Income Tax that, in its opinion, could lead to the indemnities are subject “to an indemnity reduced by tax withholdings or taxes”.
The wording adds new conditions that, according to Anava, will mean a higher cost for those compensated, by introducing the figure of the “neutral third party” that mediates in the agreement, and that said agreement “has been elevated to public deed” when the payment It is carried out by an insurance company. In addition, he understands that “it will generate a runaway increase in litigation, since citizens should wait for the court ruling so that their compensation is exempt from taxation.”
«Now if the insurance company offers you compensation, the current account is sent and the transfer is made. With the reform, it will be necessary to pay a mediator and a notary, or else, it will be necessary to pay taxes, ”he explains to this newspaper
Manuel Castellanos, president of Anava, whose association represents more than 200 firms throughout Spain.
To questions from this newspaper, from the Ministry of Justice they affirm that the project “is in the pre-legislative phase and, when it reaches the General Courts -throughout this year-, the maximum consensus will be sought with the citizens and the relatives of accident victims. And they insist that “the issue will be carefully studied due to the concern of the victims, as it is one of the priority issues.”
The text, signed by the former Minister of Justice,
John Charles Field, modifies article d) of the tax, which regulates exempt income. The reform proposal “incurs a serious confusion of legal terminology, so it must be clear that the tax exemption must apply to all damages, both extra-patrimonial (non-pecuniary damage) and patrimonial”, according to the association of lawyers.
The new text “does not take into account that those injured or victims in traffic accidents suffer personal and property damage at the time they suffer a traffic accident due to the fault of a third party, and what the compensation seeks is precisely to compensate for that decrease in assets with the full restitution of the damages suffered,” argues Castellanos, who criticizes the fact that the Executive “puts an IRPF reform into a law to streamline the courts.”
‘Serious confusion’
“From the fiscal point of view, compensation has never been considered as an increase in assets, but rather compensation for the decreases suffered as a result of the accident,” they say from Anava. This entity has sent two separate letters of complaint to the technical secretary general of the Ministry of Justice, Jacobo Fernández, and to the general director of Insurance, Sergio Álvarez, in which it expresses its “most radical opposition” to the norm.
“A compensation is to leave unscathed or without the damage that is compensated. If they take away a part of me, they not only act in a confiscatory way, but the State would collect thanks to the misfortune of the victims. It is contrary to the Constitution,” he argues.
Antonio Salas, former magistrate of the first chamber of the Supreme Court, in a message on the social network Twitter.
This shows the lack of common sense of a Government. A compensation is to leave “unscathed” or without the damage that is https://t.co/mI0lFmPXNt They take away a part of me, not only do they act in a confiscatory way, but the State would collect thanks to the misfortune of the victims. Opposite EC pic.twitter.com/Rsb5BqJmrB
– Antonio Salas (@salascarceller1) January 11, 2022
The lawyers consider that, if the reform prospers, the door will be opened «
to a massive procedural fraud». “Between reaching agreements or paying taxes, we lawyers are going to file lawsuits”, considers Castellanos, who insists on the paradox that a Law to improve procedural efficiency “is going to overload the courts due to a fiscal rejonazo”.
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