Spain's tax debtor list shrinks to 5,853 but total debt up 12.2% after deduplication
Spain's tax agency published its annual list of large debtors, showing a 2.4% drop in the number of defaulters to 5,853, although the accumulated debt rose 12.2% after removing duplications.
Overall figures
Spain's tax agency published its annual list of large debtors on 30 June 2026. The list records 5,853 individuals and entities with outstanding tax debts above €600,000 as of 31 December 2025, a 2.4% decrease from the 5,997 debtors in the previous edition. Total debt fell 4.4% to €15.432 billion, but after removing duplications (where the same amount appears for both a primary debtor and a jointly liable person) the figure rises to €15.364 billion, up 12.2% from a year earlier.
- 2024
- 5997
- 2025
- 5853
Celebrity names
The list continues to feature well-known figures from Spanish entertainment and sport. Singer Isabel Pantoja saw her debt increase, reaching around €1.27 million, while actor and singer Bertín Osborne slightly reduced his obligation to approximately €835,000. Actress Paz Vega lowered her debt from €2.61 million to €1.84 million. Former footballer Arda Turan maintained an unchanged debt of €1.26 million. Two notable comebacks: presenter Patricia Conde returned with €714,615 after a two-year absence, and television personality Kiko Matamoros reappeared with €600,740 after three years off the list. Others include Javier Banderas (brother of actor Antonio Banderas) with close to €3 million, and the estate of the late Carmina Ordóñez with over €1.3 million.
Corporate heavyweights
The bulk of the debt is held by legal entities. The 4,742 juridical persons account for €13.752 billion, led by real-estate group Reyal Urbis SA with nearly €265 million and energy company Bio-Zenite Energy SA with around €233 million. In the fuels sector, Metaway Combustibles owes about €196 million and Vertix Petroleum SLU approximately €195 million.
- Individuals
- 1680 €M
- Legal entities
- 13752 €M
How the list works
Created in 2015 by then-finance minister Cristóbal Montoro, the publication was designed to pressure large debtors into settling. The threshold was later lowered from €1 million to €600,000 under the PSOE–Podemos government. To appear, a debt must be past its voluntary payment deadline, not suspended or deferred, and still outstanding on 31 December of the reference year. Recent rulings by the Supreme Court forced the tax agency to remove nearly a thousand entries in a previous list adjustment.
Insolvency drag
Of the total debt, €4.288 billion (28%) corresponds to 1,166 debtors in insolvency proceedings, where collection chances are limited while the process is ongoing. This proportion mirrors last year's level, highlighting the structural difficulty of recovering these amounts.
