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Notificaciones Electrónicas AEAT: understanding DEHú and the tax authority's electronic mailbox

Responsible for this content: Frank Menze

Anyone who is tax-active in Spain – as an Autónomo, as a company or via a comunidad de bienes – will at some point stop receiving post from the Agencia Tributaria by letter, and instead receive it exclusively electronically. Notificaciones electrónicas AEAT run via the DEHú (Dirección Electrónica Habilitada única) or directly via the AEAT's Sede electrónica, and there's a deadline ticking away that many people underestimate: 10 calendar days from the moment it's made available, after which delivery is deemed to have been refused – with full legal consequences. In this guide you'll learn who is affected, how the deadline is really counted, why the email notification won't save you, and how the so-called días de cortesía can give you a time buffer.

AEAT Electronic Notifications: DEHú & Deadlines 2026

Are you sure there isn't a 10-day deadline currently running in your AEAT inbox?

What exactly is the DEHú?

The DEHú is the central electronic mailbox of the Spanish administration. Instead of checking separately with each authority, notifications from several state bodies come together there – including the Agencia Tributaria (AEAT) and the Seguridad Social. Since 6 September 2021, the AEAT has provided all electronic deliveries via the DEHú; before that, there was the separate "Dirección Electrónica Habilitada" (DEH), which was permanently switched off for AEAT deliveries on 31 December 2022. The legal basis is Art. 42.5 of Real Decreto 203/2021 of 30 March, under which deliveries from state senders must be provided via the DEHú.

Important in practice: the AEAT also has its own electronic Sede. In many tax cases you'll find the same or a linked notification both in the DEHú and directly in the AEAT's Sede electrónica. So you don't necessarily have to go through the DEHú – but you should know that both routes exist and both have the same legal effect.

Access point Operator What you'll find there
DEHú (dehu.redsara.es) State administration, central Notifications from several authorities, including AEAT, Seguridad Social
Sede electrónica AEAT Agencia Tributaria AEAT matters exclusively, "Mis notificaciones" section
Sede electrónica ATIB Agència Tributària de les Illes Balears Balearic tax assessments (Decreto 14/2019 as amended by Decreto 16/2022)

The 10-day rule — the core of the system

Art. 43.2 of Ley 39/2015 stipulates: an electronic delivery is deemed to have been completed at the moment the person concerned accesses the content. If electronic delivery is mandatory or has been expressly chosen, it is deemed to have been refused (rechazada) as soon as 10 calendar days have passed since the notification was made available, without the content having been accessed.

Three points about this are regularly misunderstood:

  1. "Días naturales" means calendar days. Weekends and public holidays count too, there is no shift to the next working day.
  2. The deadline begins with the notification being made available, not with your actual awareness of it. Whether you open the inbox or not makes no difference to when the deadline starts.
  3. "Rejected" is not an excuse, but an effective substitute for delivery. The procedure continues, appeal deadlines start running, payment deadlines start running – exactly as if you had read the notification.

Please note: A notification that has not been accessed is not legally "failed" or "void". After the 10 days have elapsed, it is deemed delivered, with all consequences. Anyone who confuses this misses real objection deadlines.

Under Art. 43.3, the administration has already fulfilled its obligation to notify as soon as the notification is made available in the Sede electrónica or the DEHú – regardless of whether you ever look at it.

Event Point in time / deadline
Notification made available Day 0, start of deadline
Access to the content Notificación is deemed "practicada"
No access after 10 días naturales have elapsed Notificación is deemed "rechazada"
Display of available procedures in the DEHú last 30 days, older ones via date search or AEAT-Sede
Días de cortesía per calendar year maximum 30 days

The email notification is not a means of delivery

This is the most costly misunderstanding on this topic. Under Art. 43.1 Ley 39/2015 you can additionally provide a device or an email address to which an aviso – a mere notice – is sent. It literally states that this does not serve "for the carrying out of notifications" ("pero no para la práctica de notificaciones").

In concrete terms, this means:

  • If the notice email does not arrive, ends up in spam, or the address on file is outdated, this does not change the effectiveness of the delivery nothing. The 10-day deadline runs regardless.
  • The actual legal effect arises solely from the availability of the document in the mailbox – not from the notification about it.
  • In the DEHú, under "Mis datos de contacto" you can register up to five email addresses for alerts. This increases the likelihood of noticing something, but does not replace the obligation to check the mailbox itself regularly.

Note: Anyone who only checks their mailbox every few weeks effectively misses every delivery. If you're actively running a business, it's worth setting a fixed weekly appointment to check it – or having a gestoría take care of this for you.

Who is obliged to use electronic delivery (NEO)?

The "notificaciones electrónicas obligatorias" (NEO) do not apply to everyone who pays taxes in Spain. The basis is Art. 14.2 Ley 39/2015 as well as the relevant Reglament. The AEAT names, among others, the following groups as obliged:

Group Example / Characteristic
Sociedades anónimas and sociedades de responsabilidad limitada Capital companies of any size
Legal entities and entities without legal personality comunidades de bienes, herencias yacentes, comunidades de propietarios
Business establishments / branch offices entities not resident in Spain
Entities with NIF starting with the letter "V" among others, interest associations, pension funds, investment funds
Uniones temporales de empresas Temporary project companies
Registro de Grandes Empresas registered large enterprises
Régimen de consolidación fiscal (Impuesto sobre Sociedades) Corporate groups
Régimen especial del grupo de entidades (IVA) VAT group taxation
REDEME Registro de devolución mensual del IVA
Customs agent with EDI authorisation Customs declarations electronically

The most important distinction for private individuals and small autónomos: You do not automatically become subject to NEO obligations just because you pay taxes in Spain. The obligation arises through the registers mentioned – or indirectly, if you stand behind a registered entity. This is precisely the most common case in practice: anyone who is a co-owner of a comunidad de bienes or holds an office in a comunidad de propietarios is included in the system via the entity, even without ever having applied for anything themselves.

Inclusion in NEO happens automatically, applies to all procedures simultaneously, and is, under Ley 39/2015, indefinite in duration – there is no automatic "expiry" of the obligation.

Access to DEHú and the AEAT Sede

Access is possible either via DEHú itself or directly through the Sede electrónica of the AEAT in the "Mis notificaciones" section. Several routes are available for identification:

Access route Suitable for whom
Cl@ve Residents with a Spanish NIE/DNI, see Cl@ve PIN Spain
Electronic certificate Autónomos, companies, representatives with power of attorney, see Apply for a Certificado Digital
DNIe (electronic ID card) persons registered in Spain
eIDAS EU citizens with identification from their home country

For those affected who live abroad, eIDAS is by far the most important route: it allows you to log in to the Sede electrónica of the AEAT using your own EU country's identification solution, without being physically present in Spain or having a Spanish certificate installed. Anyone who regularly expects deliveries should familiarise themselves with one of the access routes in advance, rather than sorting it out under time pressure in an emergency.

Note:If a gestoría or tax advisor manages your notifications, they need a power of attorney for the procedure GENERALNOT, which must be confirmed by the authorised representative. Without this specific power of attorney, even an authorised advisor cannot access your mailbox.

Retention — why older notifications don't "disappear"

A common misunderstanding: by default, the DEHú only shows the notifications of the last 30 days. Older notifications have disappeared from the standard overview — but they are not deleted. You can find them either via a targeted search for the date of the comparecencia (the access or provision date) in the DEHú, or at any time directly in the Sede electrónica of the AEAT.

The system officially records both the date and time of provision as well as the date of actual access or the point at which the notification was deemed rejected due to expiry of the deadline. In case of dispute — for example if you want to contest a missed deadline — it is precisely this official record that both the authority and the person concerned rely on.

Días de cortesía — 30 days of breathing space per year

Anyone subject to mandatory NEO or who has voluntarily registered for electronic notification can designate a maximum of 30 days per calendar year on which the AEAT may not provide them with a new notification in the DEHú. This is intended for holiday periods, business closures or — particularly relevant on Mallorca — the tourist high season, when autónomos have hardly any time for administrative matters.

The crucial limitation here:

Note: Notifications that were provided before the start of your días de cortesía continue running unchanged. The courtesy days do not stop an already running 10-day deadline — they only prevent new notifications being provided during this period.

Other points you should know:

  • The días de cortesía apply exclusively to notifications in the DEHú, not to other communication channels.
  • For those voluntarily registered, they only apply to the procedures for which the registration actually exists.
  • Applying for them generates a receipt with a 16-character CSV code as well as the calendar, date and time of the application — keep this receipt safe.
Feature días de cortesía Regulation
Maximum number per calendar year 30 days
Effect on ongoing deadlines none – only on future notifications
Scope of application exclusively DEHú
Proof of application Receipt with 16-digit CSV code
Power of attorney for third parties (e.g. Gestoría) GENERALNOT procedure, confirmed by the authorised representative

ATIB — the Balearic tax authority follows its own rules

In addition to the AEAT, the Agencia Tributaria de les Illes Balears (ATIB) also delivers notifications electronically. This is regulated in Decreto 14/2019 of 15 March, amended by Decreto 16/2022 of 23 May. Anyone who only reads the original version ends up with an outdated status — the 2022 amendment specifically concerns Articles 4 and 5, i.e. the question of who is obliged and what effect a delivery has.

Obliged parties under ATIB according to Art. 4 in the 2022 version:

Group Scope
Legal persons all
Entities without legal personality under Art. 35.4 Ley General Tributaria including comunidades de bienes, herencias yacentes
Natural persons with mandatory professional chamber membership expressly including notaries as well as land registry and commercial registry officials
Representatives of the aforementioned persons insofar as they represent them

For all others, joining ATIB's electronic delivery system is voluntary — electronic delivery only takes effect there under Art. 3 if its use has been expressly requested. This is the difference from the AEAT, where inclusion in NEO happens automatically for the entities covered.

Two points that are regularly overlooked in practice:

Note: The same rule that applies to the AEAT also applies to the ATIB: Art. 5 of the decree, as amended in 2022, expressly clarifies that the absence of the informative notice does not invalidate the delivery ("la ausencia de práctica de este aviso informativo no impedirá que la notificación se considere plenamente válida"). Here too, the notification email is a service, not a delivery channel.

And when joining via a representation certificate: the registration enrols the person represented in the delivery system, not the representative. So if an adviser uses a representation certificate, they are activating their client's mailbox — not their own.

Access to the ATIB's Sede electrónica is via a recognised digital certificate, the electronic DNI, or Cl@ve.

Most common mistakes with electronic AEAT deliveries

Mistake Why it becomes costly
Only checking the mailbox when post is expected Deliveries arrive without prior warning, and the 10-day deadline runs regardless
Relying on the email notification The notice is a service, not a delivery channel – its absence doesn't change the deadline
Requesting días de cortesía only after the deadline has already started They don't stop a deadline that's already running
Assuming "no access" means "no delivery" After 10 days, the delivery is deemed rejected, not failed
Assuming older notifications have been "deleted" The DEHú only displays 30 days, but older ones remain retrievable via date search or the AEAT Sede
Letting a gestoría manage deliveries without a GENERALNOT power of attorney Without this specific power of attorney, there is no access to your mailbox

What happens next if a deadline has already expired?

Once a notificación has been classified as rechazada, the underlying procedure continues as normal – including any appeal and payment deadlines. At this point, what matters most is acting quickly:

  1. Check in the DEHú or directly in the AEAT's Sede electrónica which specific matter is affected and which date is recorded as the delivery date (end of the 10 days).
  2. Secure the official proof of provision and deadline expiry – this record is the basis for everything that follows.
  3. Clarify with a gestoría or tax adviser whether, and which, legal remedies are still possible within the deadlines currently running.
  4. Set up a fixed routine for checking your mailbox going forward, and consider using días de cortesía for absences you can plan ahead.

If you're permanently unsure whether a notification obligation even applies to you – for example via a comunidad de bienes or as an Autónomo – it helps to take a look at our guides on Cita Previa Hacienda and Bookkeeping for Autónomos as well as speaking with a specialist from the Directory of Tax Advisers & Gestorías.

Checklist: Managing Notificaciones electrónicas AEAT safely

  • Checked whether an NEO obligation exists via a register (Grandes Empresas, REDEME) or via an entity (comunidad de bienes, comunidad de propietarios)
  • Access method set up: Cl@ve, electronic certificate, DNIe or eIDAS
  • Up to five email addresses registered for notification alerts in the DEHú
  • Established a fixed weekly routine for checking the mailbox
  • Días de cortesía for planned absences requested in advance, not retroactively
  • If represented by a gestoría: GENERALNOT power of attorney granted and confirmed
  • Official proof of provision and access regularly saved

Conclusion

Notificaciones electrónicas AEAT are not a niche topic reserved for large corporations – via comunidades de bienes and comunidades de propietarios, they also affect perfectly ordinary property owners and Autónomos in Mallorca. The core rule is simple but unforgiving: 10 calendar days from provision, no rescue via the email notification, and once the deadline expires the notification is deemed rejected – with full legal consequences. Anyone who knows their DEHú or AEAT mailbox, has set up the right access method, and plans días de cortesía in advance takes the sting out of the system. If in doubt, it's worth turning early to a specialist from the Directory of Law & Finance.

Official sources

What exactly does "notificación rechazada" mean?
After 10 calendar days without being accessed, the delivery is deemed rejected, but it is nevertheless legally considered as served – deadlines and proceedings continue to run as normal.
Do weekends count towards the 10-day deadline?
Yes, "días naturales" means calendar days including weekends and public holidays, there is no shift to the next working day.
Does the email notification save me if I don't see it?
No, under Ley 39/2015 the email is only a courtesy notification service and not an official delivery channel; the deadline continues to run regardless.
Am I automatically obliged to use NEO as a private individual simply because I pay taxes in Spain?
No, the obligation only arises through certain registers such as REDEME or Grandes Empresas, or indirectly through a registered entity such as a comunidad de bienes.
Where can I find older notifications that are no longer shown in the DEHú overview?
By default, the DEHú only shows the last 30 days; you can find older items by searching for the date of the comparecencia or directly in the AEAT's Sede electrónica.
What exactly do días de cortesía do?
For up to 30 self-selected days per year, they prevent new items from being made available in the DEHú, but they do not stop any deadline that was already running before they began.
Can my gestoría manage my notifications on my behalf?
Yes, but only with a special power of attorney confirmed by the authorised representative for the GENERALNOT procedure.
How do I register as an EU citizen abroad on the AEAT Sede?
Via eIDAS using the identification solution of your own EU country, or alternatively via Cl@ve, an electronic certificate, or the DNIe.