The Council of Ministers plans to ratify in this Tuesday's meeting the appointment of Antonio Ansón Latorre as the new Director General of the State Tax Administration Agency (AEAT), replacing Soledad Fernández, who requested to leave the position a few weeks ago. This was announced by the newspaper "El País" and has been corroborated to Europa Press by sources from the Ministry of Finance.
Antonio Ansón Latorre (Zaragoza, 1962) had held the position of Director of the Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Finance, Jesús Gascón, since April 2025.
From the Ministry of Finance, they emphasize Antonio Ansón's "deep knowledge" of the tax administration and the Spanish fiscal system. They also highlight his experience in management positions within the public service and his consolidated international career, factors that, according to the department, constitute an "especially qualified" profile to lead the Tax Agency in this new phase.
The change occurs after the current Director General of the Tax Agency, Soledad Fernández, formally requested to leave the responsibility she had been exercising. The Minister of Finance, Arcadi España, explained that, upon taking office, he held meetings with the main senior officials of the Ministry and that the Director of the Tax Agency informed him that, after several years at the head of the organization, her wish was to be replaced with complete normality.
In that conversation, the Minister of Finance proposed that she wait until the end of the Income Tax Campaign to make the change effective. Once the campaign concluded at the end of June, the Government has now proceeded to formalize the appointment of her successor.
Soledad Fernández's departure will also coincide with the planned departure of the heads of Collection and Financial and Tax Inspection. Both executives applied a few months ago for positions as Finance Counselors in different embassies. Although the process has not yet been resolved, and therefore they remain in their posts, their possible change of destination will overlap with the new phase at the Agency.
Professional career of Antonio Ansón at the head of the Tax Agency
Law graduate from the University of Zaragoza, the new director of the Tax Agency, Antonio Ansón, also holds a master's degree in Public Management (2010) and has completed the Digital Leadership Program for Public Administrations (2023), both jointly offered by the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IEF) and the School of Industrial Organization (EOI).
State Tax Inspector since 1999 and previously linked to the Tax Agency as a Tax Technician since 1988, he has accumulated an extensive career in tax administration, in which he has held multiple positions of responsibility.
Throughout his career, he has performed key functions in different areas of tax management. Between 1999 and 2006, he was head of the Taxpayer Telephone Assistance Center; between 2006 and 2007, he served as head of Coordination of Tax Administrations in Madrid, and from 2007 to 2010, he held the position of Deputy Director General of Planning and Programming.
Subsequently, between 2010 and 2011, he was an advisor to the regional head of Collection at the Special Delegation of Madrid. He also developed a significant part of his career in the field of human resources at the Tax Agency, first as deputy director of Administrative Personnel Management and, later, as deputy director of the Human Resources Department. Between 2013 and 2014, he also served as Regional Team Leader for Customs and Special Taxes at the Special Delegation of Madrid.
International Experience at the International Monetary Fund
His specialization and knowledge of tax administration facilitated his incorporation into the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington, where he worked for eight years, between 2014 and 2022, in the Public Finance Department (Fiscal Affairs Department, FAD).
In the international organization, he carried out tasks as a specialist in tax and customs administration, first as a technical advisor and, from 2016, as a senior economist.
Upon his return to Spain at the end of 2022, he took over the head of Studies for Public Management at the Institute of Fiscal Studies (2022-2023), was deputy director of the Human Resources Department of the AEAT (2023-2024), and served as a researcher in Tax Administration at the IEF (2024-2025).