The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands establishes that tax assessments that are completely annulled due to procedural or substantive defects do not interrupt the statute of limitations

The High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, in its judgment of 11 September 2025, establishes – deviating, in part, from the case law of the Supreme Court, and where it calls for its review—that tax assessments that are completely annulled, regardless of the defect that causes it, whether substantive or procedural, do not interrupt the statute of limitations on the Authorities’ right to determine the tax debt through the appropriate assessment.

The judgment states that only valid acts can produce legal effects and, therefore, an invalid act, whether due to absolute nullity or mere annulability, cannot produce legal effects, so that, once a tax assessment has been declared completely invalid, unless there is an agreement to retroact proceedings or to partially uphold the assessment, neither the assessment itself nor the appeals or claims filed against it interrupt the limitation period.

The court considers that ‘those who have acted in violation of the law’ to the detriment of the principles of legal certainty, to which the establishment of the limitation period, effective judicial protection and the general interest of the effective action of the Administration respond, cannot benefit from it.

However, as stated in the judgment, the current case law of the Supreme Court grants interruptive effect to the statute of limitations to voidable acts, so it will be necessary to verify whether this judgment turns out to be a turning point in this doctrine