Spain's tax agency chief to step down after income tax campaign, union warns of stalled reforms
Soledad Fernández Doctor, director general of the Spanish Tax Agency, will step down in the coming days after more than four years in the post. The move was planned and follows the end of the income tax campaign on 30 June, but the main union warns that key internal reforms remain unfinished.
A planned departure
Soledad Fernández Doctor, who has led the state tax agency since June 2022, will leave her post shortly after requesting a change months ago. The Ministry of Finance, headed by Arcadi España, said the transition was agreed and deliberately postponed until the closure of the 2025 income tax campaign, which ended on Tuesday. Two other senior figures, the directors of Collection and of Financial and Tax Inspection, have also applied for overseas posts, though their departures are not yet confirmed.
The director general, after carrying out great work over four years, requested her departure months ago, and it was agreed to postpone any change until the end of the income tax campaign.
Union pushback
The tax technicians' union Gestha expressed surprise at the timing, warning that the change opens a period of uncertainty that could delay key reforms. Gestha disputes the ministry's claim that the main planks of the 2024-2027 strategic plan are complete, pointing out that the human-resources chapter, covering workforce structure, job classification, performance evaluation and career development, remains unfinished.
Delaying the pending reforms again would prolong the deterioration of the AEAT's organisational structure and increase the frustration of a workforce that urgently needs stable solutions to face the present and future challenges of an institution that is a pillar of the state.
Political backdrop
The leadership renewal comes after a turbulent period for the agency. Fernández Doctor's tenure coincided with the leak of tax data concerning the partner of Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso, negotiations with the Catalan government over the possible transfer of tax management powers to Catalonia, and recent public attention over a tax case involving former prime minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero. Opposition commentators have described a "convulsive horizon" for the institution.
The large-debtor list
Coinciding with the end of the income tax campaign, the agency published its 13th annual list of major tax debtors. The total amount owed stood at €15.4 billion as of 31 December 2025, a 4.4% decline from the previous year. The government argues that strategic-plan milestones, a new taxpayer-service model, simplified documents and a preventive-compliance system, are already in place or nearly complete.
