Mandatory electronic notifications: do not ignore the DEHú

If your company or entity is already in the mandatory electronic-notification collective, the Tax Agency does not wait in the physical letterbox. Availability arrives at the Electronic Office or the Single Enabled Electronic Address (DEHú). Anyone who fails to watch that channel in time can be treated as notified of an act without having read a line.

Mandatory electronic notifications from the Tax Agency affect, among others, the persons and entities in article 14.2 of Law 39/2015 and additional collectives the AEAT details in its mandatory electronic notifications (NEO) leaflet: public limited and limited companies, entities without legal personality, large companies, tax consolidation, VAT groups, REDEME, customs representatives and customs EDI users, among others. Registration is automatic. AEAT, NEO; Law 39/2015, article 14; AEAT, FAQ.

This guide does not answer “a letter has arrived and I do not know what to supply”. That reaction — response deadlines, annexes, proof — is in how to face a Tax Agency requirement. Here the problem is earlier: who is obliged to the electronic channel, how the DEHú works, what happens if nobody opens, and what fails when the power of attorney or daily reading does not exist. Detail on powers to the gestoría is in granting AEAT power of attorney to your gestoría.

This guide refers to Spain’s common tax territory and notifications from the State Tax Agency. Foral territories, the Canary Islands and IGIC, Ceuta and Melilla are out unless noted. It does not decide your concrete file and does not replace reading the notification or the engagement with your gestoría. The collectives and channel framework this page uses is the AEAT on mandatory electronic notifications (NEO) and Law 39/2015.

What Law 39/2015 requires and what the Tax Agency adds

Notifications are practised preferably by electronic means and, in any event, when the interested party is obliged to receive them that way. Law 39/2015, article 41. Electronic practice is by appearance at the Electronic Office, through the single enabled electronic address, or both, as the Administration provides. Appearance means the identified interested party or representative accesses the content. Law 39/2015, article 43.

Article 14.2 sets, as a minimum, these subjects obliged to deal electronically with the Administrations for any step in a procedure: legal persons; entities without legal personality; professionals with compulsory membership when exercising that activity (including notaries and registrars); those who represent an interested party already electronically obliged; and public employees in filings by reason of their status, in the regulatory form. Law 39/2015, article 14. An SL does not “choose” paper against the Tax Agency: the electronic relationship is the rule.

The AEAT concretises the circle of mandatory electronic notifications in its FAQ and NEO leaflet. It adds, among others, taxpayers in the large-company register, corporation-tax consolidation, the special VAT group-of-entities regime, REDEME registrants, and customs cases (customs representatives and EDI filing). AEAT, FAQ; AEAT, NEO. Royal Decree 1363/2010 remains the sectoral rule on mandatory cases in the Agency’s field; its article 4 lists legal forms (SA, SL, UTE, certain V NIFs, non-residents, and so on) and circumstances such as large companies, consolidation, VAT group, REDEME and customs representatives. RD 1363/2010, article 4.

The FAQ summarises the practical effect: filing of documents and applications by the obliged collective goes through electronic register, and the generality of communications and notifications the Agency addresses to them will be electronic. AEAT, FAQ.

Companies, communities and the freelancer still waiting for the postman

A public limited or limited company appears expressly in the NEO list. So do entities without legal personality that the AEAT exemplifies with communities of goods, dormant estates and communities of owners. AEAT, NEO. If you administer a community of owners or a CB, the problem is not “looking like a company”: it is being in the collective without an electronic reading habit.

The natural-person freelancer is another map. Law 39/2015 starts from natural persons being able to choose electronic means, unless obliged. Law 39/2015, article 14; AEAT, FAQ. They may become obliged if they enter a Royal Decree or AEAT-list case (for example REDEME or the large-company register), or if they represent an obliged interested party. They may also subscribe voluntarily to the UNICO procedure (and thereby to electronic procedures, including IVANOR) from the Electronic Office. AEAT, voluntary subscription. If you subscribe, the ten-calendar-day clock applies as for an obliged person.

A frequent error: confusing “I file the 303 online” with “I am already under mandatory notifications”. Filing models electronically does not automatically equal being in NEO. Look at legal form, the census and, if you are a natural person, whether you have made the voluntary registration or sit in a register that pulls the obligation.

If you are a natural person and want voluntary registration, the Electronic Office lets you identify with Cl@ve, certificate, DNIe or eIDAS, register UNICO or IVANOR, sign and download the receipt with CSV. Being in UNICO means being subscribed to every electronic procedure, including IVANOR; that is why, with UNICO active, you cannot subscribe separately to IVANOR. AEAT, voluntary subscription. Keep that PDF: it is proof you chose the channel.

What the DEHú is and how you actually enter

The DEHú electronic-notification service lets you access AEAT notifications and communications and those of other integrated Public Administrations. You do not need to create an inbox or prior registration: enter from https://dehu.redsara.es/ or from the Agency Electronic Office link and press Access. AEAT, DEHú access. Identification admits Cl@ve (mobile or permanent), certificate, DNIe and eIDAS systems from other EU countries. If you enter with a legal-person representative certificate, the DEHú also shows the entity’s name. AEAT, DEHú access.

The AEAT Electronic Office offers the same universe by another door: Personal area → My notifications, with pending, read or rejected items, and a link to the DEHú. AEAT, My notifications. The NEO leaflet states it: access may be in the DEHú or the Electronic Office, directly by the obliged person, for AEAT notifications. AEAT, NEO.

To enter the DEHú you do not need to create a prior inbox: access from https://dehu.redsara.es/ or from the AEAT Electronic Office link, identify with Cl@ve, certificate, DNIe or eIDAS and complete appearance by ticking consent and signing. Access is also available from My notifications in the personal area of the Electronic Office. AEAT, DEHú access; AEAT, My notifications. That same sequence — no prior inbox registration, electronic identification and appearance — is what the Agency’s technical help describes.

On pending items, the DEHú asks for consent and signature to accept; then they move to completed. There is explicit rejection, with the same consent logic. The AEAT note is clear: rejecting a notification will not halt the open administrative procedure. AEAT, DEHú access. Under Law 39/2015, when the interested party or representative rejects the notification, that is recorded in the file and the formality is treated as effected. Law 39/2015, article 41.5. Rejection does not buy useful time.

Completed items are coloured: accepted, rejected, expired and expired in the Single Edictal Board (TEU). AEAT, DEHú access. The FAQ adds a consultation nuance: in the DEHú notifications remain available, but the portal initially shows only those of the last 30 days; for earlier ones search by appearance date, and they can always be consulted in the AEAT Electronic Office. AEAT, FAQ. Download the PDF and acknowledgement when you appear: the “Files” folder in the DEHú includes document, annexes and receipt. AEAT, DEHú access.

The ten calendar days and the alert that does not save you

When notification by electronic means is mandatory, or has been expressly chosen by the interested party, it is treated as rejected when ten calendar days have passed from availability of the notification without access to its content. The AEAT reproduces that same ten-calendar-day deadline for pending notifications. Law 39/2015, article 43.2; AEAT, NEO; AEAT, FAQ.

That clock is not the answer clock. The deadline to allege, supply or pay is in the notified act. You may have been notified on day 10 by silence and discover the document on day 11 with the response deadline already running or almost gone. The expensive failure is rarely not knowing the law: it is not watching the channel.

The law provides for alerts to the electronic device or email the interested party has communicated. Failure to send that alert does not stop the notification being treated as fully valid. Law 39/2015, article 41.6. The AEAT FAQ confirms alert systems at the Agency and in the DEHú, on voluntary subscription, for natural and legal persons. In the DEHú you may leave up to five alert emails. AEAT, FAQ; AEAT, DEHú access.

Treat the alert as an alarm, not as the file. A spam filter, a full mailbox or a gestoría email nobody reads does not stop the count. If you are notified by several channels, count the date of the first correctly practised notification. Law 39/2015, article 41.7; AEAT, FAQ.

There is a courtesy mechanism: those in the system, by obligation or voluntary registration, may mark up to 30 calendar days a year on which the AEAT will not make notifications available in the DEHú or Electronic Office, under Order EHA/3552/2011. AEAT, FAQ; RD 1363/2010, third additional provision. That does not turn the rest of the year into paper. It only blocks availability on those chosen days, and delay from that designation is treated as delay not attributable to the Administration under the management and inspection regulations. RD 1363/2010, third additional provision. If the Agency needs immediacy to secure effectiveness, it may use other notification means provided in the General Tax Law. RD 1363/2010, third additional provision.

The AEAT also recalls cases where it will not notify by electronic means (elements not convertible to electronic form, personal appearance, cheques, certain seizures with credit institutions, and so on) and cases where it may use non-electronic means (spontaneous appearance at offices or direct delivery when effectiveness must be secured). AEAT, FAQ; Law 39/2015, article 41. They are exceptions. They are not the plan B of someone who hates the DEHú.

Representation: who can open and what usually fails

Access to electronic notifications may be by the obliged person or an attorney with express power to receive the Agency’s electronic notifications. AEAT, FAQ. DEHú help via power of attorney sets out the filing: GENERALNOT or a specific reception power; the attorney identifies with their certificate or Cl@ve, not yours. AEAT, DEHú access through a power of attorney.

On internet registration the flow has two steps: grant by the principal and confirmation by the attorney in “Consultation, confirmation and renunciation of powers received”. Until confirmation exists, do not assume the gestoría can already watch the inbox. AEAT, DEHú access through a power of attorney. In the Electronic Office the attorney must filter “On behalf of” to see the principal’s notifications. In the DEHú they may search by link (holder or addressee) or by the holder’s NIF. AEAT, DEHú access through a power of attorney.

The representation failures that hurt most are dull and repeated:

Power to file models without GENERALNOT: the gestoría files the 303 and nobody is authorised to open notifications.
GENERALNOT granted and not confirmed: the registration CSV misleads; reception status is still ineffective.
Change of gestoría with an old live power: the previous signature can still open; the new one cannot yet.
Expired director certificate or Cl@ve not renewed: the obliged person “is in NEO” but cannot enter.
Several companies and one reading habit: the operating SL is watched and the holding or CB is forgotten.

None of those failures suspends the ten-day deadline. Article 43 speaks of access to the content by the interested party or representative; if nobody competent enters, rejection by silence arrives all the same. Law 39/2015, article 43.

If you need to design the scope of the power (GENERALLEY58, GENERALDATPE, GENERALNOT, validity, revocation), use the AEAT power of attorney guide. Here one operational rule is enough: whoever watches the inbox must be confirmed in the register and someone must check it on a calendar, not “when there is email”.

Reading failures: the channel works and the business does not

The system records the date and time of availability and of access or rejection by expiry of the deadline. AEAT, FAQ; RD 1363/2010, article 6.5. Against the Agency there is little room for “I did not know”. The room is in how you organise surveillance.

Some habitual patterns, without inventing concrete files:

Sole director on holiday without a notifications attorney: on return there are expired acts.
Gestoría that “already watches” but without an hours-forwarding agreement: they open, you discover the deadline late.
Alert to an old personal email: the alert fails; the notification does not.
Confusing a communication with a notification and leaving it for Friday: the appearance deadline remains calendar days, including weekends and holidays.
Entering with the natural-person certificate of the shareholder and not the SL representative certificate: the tray you see is not the company’s.

Mandatory inclusion, according to the FAQ, has indefinite validity under Law 39/2015. Natural persons not obliged may choose and, where relevant, leave a voluntary subscription; the obliged collective does not leave the system through simple fatigue. AEAT, FAQ. RD 1363/2010 does contemplate exclusion when the circumstances cease, after electronic application and a decision within one month; silence may operate in favour of exclusion, but the Agency may include you again if the causes remain. RD 1363/2010, article 4.3. Do not improvise deregistration: check whether you still sit in a case (for example REDEME) before assuming you are no longer notified via DEHú.

How to decide the channel without mixing it with the answer

Before fighting the content of a letter, decide three channel points: whether your NIF or legal form is in the obliged collective; who watches the inbox (you, the gestoría with confirmed GENERALNOT, or nobody); and whether you have email alerts configured without confusing them with the notification. DEHú help via power of attorney sets out the filing: GENERALNOT or a specific reception power; the attorney identifies with their certificate or Cl@ve, not yours. On internet registration the flow has two steps: grant by the principal and confirmation by the attorney in “Consultation, confirmation and renunciation of powers received”. If the document is already open or expired, move to the requirements-response guide; if the problem is who can open it, fix the power of attorney. AEAT, DEHú access through a power of attorney.

A short checklist:

Identify whether you are NEO by legal form, register or representation.
Enter today in the Electronic Office or DEHú with the correct identity (holder or entity representative).
Configure alerts and check they reach a mailbox that is read.
If there is a gestoría, verify confirmed GENERALNOT and a written alert protocol.
Diary periodic review: do not rely only on email.
When a document is pending or expired, change guide: letter and requirement.

If you administer several entities, repeat the checklist per NIF. A power or alert well set on one SL does not cover another.

Next step

Today, not next week: enter My notifications or the DEHú, list pending items and configure alerts. If the gestoría must open, confirm GENERALNOT under the DEHú power-of-attorney help and leave forwarding in writing. If you already have an act in front of you, leave this article and use the Tax Agency requirements guide.

Frequently asked questions

Is an SL obliged to receive Tax Agency electronic notifications?

Yes, as a legal person. Law 39/2015 obliges legal persons to deal electronically with the Administrations, and the AEAT includes public limited and limited companies among the mandatory electronic-notification collectives. Registration is automatic: you do not need to “ask for the inbox” for notifications to be placed there.

Is a natural-person freelancer always obliged to use the DEHú?

Not merely by being a freelancer. Many natural persons are outside the mandatory collective, except for cases such as REDEME registration or the large-company register, representation of an electronic obligor or other cases the AEAT lists. Anyone not obliged may subscribe voluntarily; they may also receive alerts without turning email into the notification.

How many days do I have to open a mandatory electronic notification?

When electronic notification is mandatory or you have chosen it, it is treated as rejected if ten calendar days pass from availability without accessing the content. That deadline is not the deadline to answer the act: the response deadline is in the document itself.

Is the alert email the official notification?

No. The law allows alerts to the device or email you have communicated, but failure to send an alert does not stop the notification being valid. Electronic notification is effected by accessing the content in the Electronic Office or DEHú, or by rejection after ten calendar days.

Can my gestoría open notifications on my behalf?

Yes, if a power of attorney is registered for receiving notifications (GENERALNOT or a specific one) and the attorney has confirmed it when registration requires that. They identify with their own credentials, not your certificate. You can still enter as holder; the operational risk is that someone opens the notification and you do not learn of the deadline in time.

Does rejecting a DEHú notification stop the procedure?

No. AEAT help on the DEHú states that rejection does not halt the open administrative procedure. Under Law 39/2015, rejection of the notification treats the formality as effected and the procedure continues.