What is offsetting?

It is a form of extinguishing tax debts. Thus, tax debts may be extinguished, in whole or in part, by offsetting them against recognised credits in favour of the same debtor, which may be agreed ex officio or at the debtor's request.

Offsetting is a procedure used to apply any payment(s) that the administration has to make to a debtor to debts, or self-assessments. Most offsetting is made on refunds agreed by the Tax Agency, but refunds or payments from other bodies can also be applied to debts managed by the Tax Agency.

When the debts are owed to public administrations, we speak of a deduction on transfers.