The Vélez-Málaga Town Hall and the Collection Board will study case by case the receipts of the new waste tax with possible discrepancies, following concerns from freelancers and traders. The mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez, met this Thursday with the collecting body.
The Vélez-Málaga Town Hall and the Collection Board have agreed to individually review the receipts of the new waste tax that present possible discrepancies, after concerns raised in recent weeks by freelancers, traders, professionals, and holders of economic activities. This was reported by the City Council, which details that the mayor, Jesús Lupiáñez (PP), held a first working meeting this past Thursday with officials from the collecting body to analyse the situations communicated by taxpayers, as published by Diario Sur.
One of the main issues addressed concerns the information listed in the Tax on Economic Activities (IAE) register. The Town Hall points out that there may be cases where activities registered are no longer being carried out or data that do not correspond to the current situation of the business. Possible duplications related to that census information have also been raised.
The recommendation for professionals who detect these discrepancies is to first check their situation with the Tax Agency. If the IAE data does not reflect the actual activity in 2026, they must request its update or regularisation. Once that procedure is completed, they can appeal the receipt to the Collection Board by providing the documentation that proves the modification made with the Tax Agency.
Lupiáñez explained in a statement that the municipal intention is to address the cases "from listening and from responsibility." "We know that there are professionals who have received their receipts with doubts and who need an explanation. What we have done is listen to those situations, convey them to the Collection Board, and sit down to work to find a response to each case," the mayor stated.
The new waste tax also arrives amid significant political and social controversy. The last ordinary plenary session of the Vélez-Málaga Town Hall, held on Monday, August 31, had to be suspended due to protests from residents and traders against the tax. Tensions increased after an urgent proposal from Andalucía Por Sí to suspend the receipts did not succeed, and the mayor ended up suspending the session due to the impossibility of continuing normally amid shouts and boos from the public. The opposition has since intensified its criticism of the tax's implementation, while the governing team has opened a review process for possible discrepancies with the Collection Board.
The tax has been applied in Vélez-Málaga since January 1, 2026. The plenary definitively approved on October 31, 2025, two differentiated ordinances, one for domestic waste and another for waste generated by economic activities, which were published in the Official Bulletin of the Province on December 3. The general obligation to establish a specific, differentiated, and non-deficit tax stems from the State Law 7/2022 on waste, which gave local entities three years to implement it; the specific configuration of the tax corresponds subsequently to each local administration.
The Town Hall has also announced informative meetings with associations of traders and entrepreneurs from Vélez-Málaga and Torre del Mar. The intention is to directly explain what steps those with doubts should follow, what documentation they need, and how they can present their claims to the collecting body.
Specific open days will also be organised for managers, advisors, and other professionals who regularly process these types of files. These will explain how to consult the census situation, what supporting documents must be provided, and what the procedure is for filing the corresponding appeals. Dates will be announced in the coming days. The meeting also included councillors Manuel Gutiérrez and David Vilches and municipal technicians from the economic area.
The meeting continues the actions announced by the City Council at the end of August when it reported receiving inquiries from professionals and traders about their settlements. At that time, the Town Hall itself stated that it had detected duplications in some receipts and discrepancies in the square metres of certain premises, among other circumstances that required verification.
Lupiáñez has now insisted that a general solution will not be applied to all cases, but each one will have to be verified with its documentation. "We are not going to look the other way. If there is a situation that needs to be corrected, it will be corrected. If a receipt does not correspond to the reality of a taxpayer, we want to know it, verify it, and provide the appropriate response," he affirmed.
The controversy also arises while the individual notification process of the settlements continues. The Vélez-Málaga Town Hall clarified on August 26 that there is no single payment deadline for all taxpayers, as the voluntary period begins to count from the moment each interested party receives their notification, either electronically or on paper. In this context, the City Council insists that those who believe their receipt does not accurately reflect their activity should first check the IAE data before initiating the appeal.
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