Electronic notifications from Hacienda: the ten-day rule, DEHú and how companies and non-residents stop missing letters

Ten natural days. That is the whole distance between a letter from the Spanish tax agency that a company or an owner never read and a debt that is final, surcharged and, a few months later, collected from a bank account. Since the 2015 administrative procedure law made electronic notification the rule, the Agencia Tributaria no longer needs a postman to reach a company in Puerto del Rosario or a branch in Corralejo: it places the document in an electronic mailbox, and if nobody opens it within ten days the law treats it as delivered. The rule is simple, the mailbox has a name few clients recognise — DEHú, the single enabled electronic address — and the people it catches are always the same: companies whose administrator lives abroad, communities of owners that nobody told they were obliged, and non-resident owners whose only address on file is the flat they rent out. This piece sets out who is obliged and who is not, how the ten-day count works and what it triggers, where the letters actually sit, the thirty courtesy days a year that the Agency must respect, and the three fixes for a non-resident.

Who is obliged, and who is obliged without knowing it

The administrative procedure law obliges to deal with every administration electronically, «at least», legal persons, entities without legal personality, professionals whose activity requires compulsory membership of a professional body — notaries and registrars expressly included — and anyone who represents a person who is obliged (Ley 39/2015, art. 14.2). The tax agency's own regulation names them by the letter of their tax number: public and private limited companies (NIF beginning A or B), foreign legal persons and entities without Spanish nationality (N), the permanent establishments and branches of non-resident companies (W), temporary joint ventures (U) and the economic interest groupings and funds under letter V; and, whatever their form, large companies, consolidated groups, VAT groups, taxpayers in the monthly VAT refund register and customs representatives (Real Decreto 1363/2010, art. 4). «Entities without legal personality» is the line that surprises the islands: a community of property owners, a comunidad de bienes between two brothers who let a shop, an undivided estate — all obliged, all notified electronically from the day the Agency mails them the inclusion letter on paper, which for a new company arrives with its tax number (art. 5).

Natural persons are not obliged unless they fall in one of those groups — a lawyer or an architect for their professional dealings, an individual in the monthly refund register or the large-companies register — and may otherwise choose electronic notifications and change their mind at any time (Ley 39/2015, arts. 14.1 and 41.1). A self-employed plumber or a non-resident landlord is therefore notified on paper unless they subscribe. A draft royal decree put to public consultation in June 2022 proposed extending the obligation to every natural person in the census of business people and professionals; as of September 2026 it has not appeared in the Official Gazette and the Agency's own list of obliged parties has not changed. Two more groups are caught by delegation: anyone who has appointed a representative who is obliged, and anyone who has registered a general power for notifications in the Agency's register of powers, because the notification then lands in the representative's mailbox with the same ten-day clock.

The ten-day rule, and everything it sets in motion

An electronic notification is «deemed made at the moment access to its content occurs». When it is obligatory or the person has chosen it, «it is deemed rejected when ten natural days have elapsed since the notification was placed at disposal without its content being accessed» (Ley 39/2015, art. 43.2). Placing it at disposal in the Agency's electronic office or in DEHú fulfils the Agency's duty to notify (art. 43.3); the e-mail or text message that warns you a notification is waiting is an aviso, expressly «not for the practice of notifications», and its absence invalidates nothing (art. 41.1). The Agency itself puts it in one line: taxpayers may access pending notifications «for a period of ten natural days; once that period has passed without access, the notification expires and is considered made for the purposes of the procedure».

Natural days are calendar days: weekends, public holidays and the whole of August count. And what the deemed notification sets in motion is the part clients do not see. A request for information gives ten working days to answer, and silence is a fact the Agency records. A proposed assessment opens the period for allegations. A liquidation notified between the 1st and the 15th of a month must be paid by the 20th of the following month; one notified between the 16th and the end, by the 5th of the second following month (Ley General Tributaria, art. 62.2). The appeal for reconsideration and the claim before the economic-administrative tribunal each have one month from the day after notification (arts. 223 and 235) — from the day after the deemed notification, not the day someone finally opened the mailbox. After the voluntary period the debt enters enforcement with a surcharge of 5 % if paid before the enforcement order is notified, 10 % if paid within the order's deadline and 20 % plus interest thereafter (art. 28), and the next document is an attachment of the bank account — the story told from the owner's side in our sister piece on frozen bank accounts of owners abroad.

Where the letters live: DEHú and the Agency's own office

The law lets each administration notify «by appearance in its electronic office, through the single enabled electronic address, or both» (art. 43.1), and the tax agency uses both: every notification sits in the Agency's electronic office under Mis notificaciones and in DEHú, the single address run by the State for every public administration — the tax agency, Social Security, the traffic authority, the town halls that have joined — which is also the general access point the law names (art. 43.4). Access needs an electronic certificate or Cl@ve; a company's administrator uses the representative certificate. DEHú shows the notifications of the last thirty days on its main screen and keeps the rest searchable by date; the Agency's office keeps them all. Both systems offer a free warning by e-mail, to one or several addresses, on a voluntary subscription — a courtesy worth setting up in three inboxes, and never a substitute for opening the mailbox.

The second tool is the register of powers. A person or company may authorise, in the Agency's registro de apoderamientos, another person who holds a certificate to receive its electronic notifications; the adviser then sees the letter the day it arrives and the client is never the single point of failure. Every company we administer from Caleta de Fuste and Costa Calma has that power in place, and the mailbox is read every working day.

Thirty courtesy days a year

The Agency cannot notify a company on holiday if the company has said so in advance. A taxpayer included in the electronic system, obligatorily or voluntarily, may designate up to «30 natural days per calendar year» on which the Agency «may not place notifications at their disposal», freely chosen and without grouping; the days must be requested «at least seven natural days before the first day on which they are to take effect», and may be changed on the same terms; a person registered as a general representative for notifications may designate them for the client (Orden EHA/3552/2011, arts. 1 and 3). Two limits matter. The delay counts as not attributable to the Administration, so a procedure's clock does not run against the Agency during those days (art. 4.1); and the courtesy days «are in no case deducted from the calculation of deadlines already started» — a notification placed on 30 July still expires on 9 August, holiday or not (art. 4.2). Our companies book August and the Christmas fortnight in January, and the request is renewed every year.

Non-residents: the address that receives the letter

A non-resident who is not obliged and has not subscribed is notified on paper, and the law decides where. In procedures the Agency starts on its own initiative, the notification may be made at the tax domicile, the workplace, the place where the activity is carried on «or any other suitable place» (Ley General Tributaria, art. 110.2); for a non-resident with property income, the tax domicile is the representative's and, failing one, «the place where the property is situated» (Ley del Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes, art. 11.1.b). The letter goes to the flat in Corralejo, the tenant or the community's caretaker may sign for it (Ley General Tributaria, art. 111), and if two attempts fail — one, where the addressee is «unknown» at that address — the Agency publishes a summons in the Official Gazette on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, and the owner is deemed notified fifteen natural days later (art. 112). The 210 return our Modelo 210 guide explains is the usual trigger: an imputed-income return never filed, a rental return with a figure the Agency disputes.

Three fixes exist, and we set up all three. The owner appoints a representative resident in Spain — obligatory for non-EU residents when the Agency requires it or a permanent establishment exists, voluntary otherwise (art. 10) — so that the tax domicile becomes the representative's office. The owner registers a power for notifications in the Agency's register, so that the adviser receives them electronically whatever the paper route does. And, where the owner holds a certificate or Cl@ve, they subscribe voluntarily to electronic notifications, converting the paper lottery into the ten-day rule with a professional reading the mailbox. A non-resident company with a branch or a permanent establishment needs none of this: its W-number makes it obliged from day one, and the mailbox is the only address the Agency will use.

A calendar of one unread letter

An SL in Puerto del Rosario whose sole administrator spends August in Hamburg receives, on Friday 7 August 2026, a provisional assessment for €12,000 in its electronic mailbox. Nobody books courtesy days; the warning e-mail goes to an address nobody reads on holiday.

• 17 August: ten natural days elapse; the assessment is deemed notified. The month for an appeal for reconsideration runs to 17 September; the voluntary payment period, for a notification between the 16th and the end of the month, runs to 5 October.
• 17 September: the right to appeal lapses unopened.
• 6 October: the debt enters enforcement. Paid that week, before the enforcement order is notified, it carries a 5 % surcharge: €600. Paid within the order's own deadline, 10 %: €1,200. Left, 20 % plus interest: €2,400 and counting, and the bank account is the next document.
• The same company with 1–31 August booked as courtesy days: the assessment could not be placed before 1 September; deemed notified on 11 September at the latest if still unopened; appeal until 11 October, payment until 20 October — and an administrator back at his desk.

The difference between the two calendars is a seven-day request made in July, and a mailbox someone reads.

Where we come in

Our tax desk in Caleta de Fuste and Costa Calma registers the notification power for every company and non-resident client, reads the electronic mailboxes every working day, books the courtesy days each year, appoints itself representative for non-resident owners so that the paper route ends at our office, answers the requests within their deadlines and, when a letter has already expired, files the appeal or the payment before the surcharge doubles. See tax advisory and business advisory, or book a consultation — we reply within one business day. The autumn tax calendar lists the returns whose omission most often starts the letter.

Common questions

Is my company obliged to receive Hacienda's notifications electronically?

Yes, if it is a legal person or an entity without legal personality — every SA and SL, every foreign company with a Spanish tax number, every branch or permanent establishment of a non-resident, and also a community of owners or a comunidad de bienes. The Agency notifies the inclusion on paper once, with the tax number for a new company, and from then on every letter sits in the electronic office and in DEHú for ten natural days.

What happens if nobody opens a notification within ten days?

It is deemed rejected and therefore made: every deadline runs from that day. A request unanswered is recorded as such; an assessment must be paid by the 20th of the following month or the 5th of the second month, depending on the date; the one-month appeal periods run from the deemed date. After the voluntary period the debt carries a 5 %, 10 % or 20 % surcharge and the account may be attached.

Are the self-employed and non-resident individuals obliged?

Not as such. Natural persons are obliged only for a professional activity that requires membership of a professional body, or if they are in the monthly VAT refund register or the large-companies register; otherwise they are notified on paper unless they subscribe voluntarily. A 2022 draft royal decree proposed extending the obligation to every self-employed person; as of September 2026 it has not been published. A non-resident individual is notified at the representative's domicile or, failing one, at the property.

Can I stop Hacienda from notifying my company while it is closed in August?

Yes: up to thirty natural days a year, freely chosen, requested in the Agency's electronic office at least seven natural days before the first day. During those days no notification is placed at your disposal; they do not extend deadlines that were already running, so a letter placed in late July still expires in early August unless someone opens it.

Facts verified in September 2026 (Ley 39/2015, articles 14, 41, 43 and 44; Ley General Tributaria, Law 58/2003, articles 28, 62, 110, 111, 112, 223 and 235; Real Decreto 1363/2010, articles 3 to 5; Orden EHA/3552/2011, articles 1 to 4; Non-Resident Income Tax Act, RDLeg 5/2004, articles 10 and 11; the Agency's electronic-notifications pages and DEHú). Figures are worked examples on 2026 rules; your own will differ.