What does the prescription consist of and what rights may be prescribed?

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Under Spanish tax law, limitation extinguishes rights on the terms set by statute. The General Tax Law (Ley General Tributaria, LGT) provides a general four-year limitation period for these rights (Article 66):

1. The Tax Administration’s right to determine the tax debt by issuing the appropriate assessment.
2. The Tax Administration’s right to collect tax debts that have been assessed or self-assessed.
3. The right to request tax refunds provided for by tax legislation, refunds of undue payments, and reimbursement of guarantee costs.
4. The right to obtain those refunds and reimbursements.

The start of the limitation period and the events that interrupt it depend on the particular right and the actions taken. To determine whether a specific debt is time-barred, it is necessary to identify the right being exercised and review the dates and interruption grounds under Articles 67 and 68 LGT. Appeals or claims may interrupt the period in the cases provided by law.

Expiry of the Tax Administration’s right to assess does not automatically prevent every examination of prescribed tax periods. Under Article 115 LGT, the Administration may examine facts from those periods where this is necessary to determine rights that have not expired. In addition, Article 66 bis sets a specific ten-year period for commencing checks of tax bases or amounts carried forward and tax deductions applied or still available, subject to the scope and limits set out in that provision.

The limitation period for imposing tax penalties is governed separately: it is four years from the date the infringement was committed and may be interrupted in the cases set out in Article 189 LGT. Once a penalty has been imposed, limitation of the right to collect it is governed by the rules applicable to the collection of tax debts (Article 190(2) LGT).

There is therefore no general rule that five years of inactivity in any administrative appeal automatically time-bars a tax debt. The outcome depends on the right concerned, the statutory calculation and any applicable interruption or suspension grounds.

Official source: Spanish General Tax Law 58/2003, Articles 66, 66 bis, 67, 68, 115, 189 and 190: https://www.boe.es/eli/es/l/2003/12/17/58/con