Renowned Spanish YouTubers Guillermo Díaz (Willyrex) and Samuel de Luque (Vegetta777) have decided to take their tax dispute to court. Through their lawyers, they filed a contentious-administrative appeal before the Audiencia Nacional.
This lawsuit was filed against the decisions of the Tribunal Económico-Administrativo Central (TEAC), which seeks to force them to pay taxes in Spain for the 2016 and 2017 fiscal years. However, during those years, they were already residing in Andorra.
The digital creators moved to the Principality several years ago and continue to live there. According to their legal representatives, they complied with all the requirements set by the Andorran authorities and pay taxes regularly in that country.
The lawyers denounce arbitrary actions by the Spanish Tax Agency
Attorneys Marc Urgell and Iñaki Picaza strongly challenged the TEAC's decisions. First, they point out that the Tax Agency itself acknowledges that both YouTubers spent more days in Andorra than in Spain during the periods under investigation. Meanwhile, their activity is carried out from professional studios located in the Principality.
Even so, the Spanish Tax Agency insists on considering them Spanish taxpayers during those fiscal years, something that the lawyers consider a legal anomaly. The YouTubers' legal representatives stated that the decisions are "contrary to law and manifestly unfair". They unscrupulously ignore the actual residence and real location of their economic activity.
In their statement, the attorneys were even more direct. "We are facing a true tax absurdity, as our clients are being asked to pay taxes in a country where they neither live nor work anymore. They ignore both their actual residence and the place from which they conduct their economic activity," they asserted.
They added: "This contradicts the basic principles of international tax law and the treaties to avoid double taxation."
