Spanish notifications

The 10-day rule for Spanish electronic notifications

Spanish e-notifications left unopened for 10 calendar days count as rejected. What that means, when deadlines start, and what to do if you missed one.

By Hola Post · Updated 1 October 2026 · 6 min read

When a Spanish electronic notification is compulsory for you, or you have chosen to receive notifications electronically, it is treated as rejected if you have not opened it 10 calendar days after it was made available. "Rejected" does not mean cancelled. The administration records the notification as done and carries on with the procedure, so deadlines to pay, reply or appeal run whether you have read it or not. The rule is in article 43.2 of Ley 39/2015, Spain's general law on administrative procedure.

What the law says

Article 43.2 of Ley 39/2015 has two parts. First, an electronic notification is treated as made at the moment you access its content. Second, where electronic notification is compulsory or you expressly chose it, the notification "se entenderá rechazada" (will be treated as rejected) once 10 días naturales (calendar days) have passed since it was made available without you accessing it.

Article 41.5 then says what a rejection means: it is recorded in the file, "the step is treated as completed and the procedure continues".

The same 10-day rule appears in the specific rules for the Seguridad Social (Orden ESS/485/2013) and for traffic fines (article 90.2 of the Ley de Tráfico), and the Agencia Tributaria applies it to tax notifications. Real Decreto 203/2021 requires the DEHú and every sede electrónica to warn you of this before you open a notification.

Who the rule applies to

The 10-day rule only applies where electronic notification is compulsory for you, or where you opted into it. In practice this includes:

companies and other legal entities, including SLs
entities without legal personality, such as a comunidad de bienes
professionals in a colegio (professional association) for their professional dealings
anyone acting as representative of one of the above
self-employed people (autónomos) in their dealings with the Seguridad Social
individuals who signed up to electronic notifications with a particular body, such as the Agencia Tributaria's voluntary scheme

If you are a private individual who has never opted in, most bodies must notify you on paper, by post. They will usually also place a copy in their sede electrónica, but you are not bound by the 10-day rule if you do not log in. Our guide to who must receive electronic notifications goes through the categories in detail.

How the 10 days are counted

The count starts from the puesta a disposición, the moment the notification is placed in your mailbox. The days are calendar days, so weekends, bank holidays and August all count.

A simple example: a notification made available on Monday 2 March is treated as rejected if you have not opened it by the end of Thursday 12 March. That date is recorded in the system with a timestamp.

If the same notification is available in two places (for example the DEHú and the Agencia Tributaria's sede), the first access or rejection in either system is what counts (article 41.7 of Ley 39/2015 and article 42.1 of Real Decreto 203/2021).

The email or SMS aviso has no effect on the count. Article 41.6 says that not sending it does not invalidate the notification.

The Agencia Tributaria has one useful extra. If you are in its electronic notification scheme, you can choose up to 30 calendar days a year (días de cortesía) when it will not place notifications in your electronic mailbox. You must request them at least 7 calendar days before the period starts. Notifications already placed before that period still expire after 10 days.

When your deadlines start

Once a notification is treated as rejected, the procedure carries on, and in practice the rejection date is used as the notification date. Under article 30 of Ley 39/2015, deadlines expressed in days start from the day after notification and, unless a law says otherwise, count working days only (Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays are excluded). Deadlines in months run to the same date in the following month.

This means the real time you have is the 10 days of the rejection rule plus whatever deadline the notification itself sets. Some of that time is lost before you even read the document.

Three common examples

These are the kinds of notification where missing the 10 days causes the most trouble.

A requerimiento from Hacienda

A requerimiento is a formal request for information or documents, for example asking you to justify a deduction or explain a figure on a tax return. It gives a deadline to reply, often 10 working days, stated in the document. If it is treated as rejected and you never reply, the tax agency can move on to issue a liquidación (assessment) based on the information it has, and sometimes open a penalty procedure.

A fine (multa)

For a traffic fine notified through the DGT's electronic mailbox, the Ley de Tráfico gives 20 calendar days from notification to pay with a 50% reduction, or to make alegaciones (objections) and identify the driver. If the notification is treated as rejected on day 10, those 20 days start from then. For some infractions, if you neither pay nor object in time, the original notice becomes the final decision. See our guide to DGT fines.

A providencia de apremio

A providencia de apremio is the formal demand that starts enforced collection of an unpaid tax debt. It adds a surcharge (recargo) and sets a payment window. Under article 62.5 of the Ley General Tributaria, if it is notified between the 1st and the 15th of a month you must pay by the 20th of that month. If it is notified from the 16th onward, you have until the 5th of the following month. Paying within that window keeps the surcharge at 10%. After it, the surcharge becomes 20% plus late-payment interest, and the authority can embargar (seize) bank balances and other assets. This is how many non-residents first discover an unpaid IBI bill or a missed Modelo 210: money is taken from a Spanish bank account.

What to do if you missed a notification

Act quickly. The options narrow as time passes.

Log in and open it. Rejected notifications normally remain visible in the DEHú or the issuing body's sede. Read the decision and note every date in it.
Work out which deadlines are still open. Count from the rejection date, not from the day you read it.
If a payment deadline is still running, paying within it is usually the cheapest outcome, even if you plan to dispute the decision.
If you want to challenge the decision itself, check the appeal route stated in the notification. For many decisions this is a recurso de reposición (a request to the same body to reconsider) within one month.
If you could not access the notification because of a technical fault on the administration's side, say so in writing with evidence. Real Decreto 203/2021 allows a body to extend an unexpired deadline when the DEHú has a technical incident, and the traffic and Seguridad Social rules exclude rejection where access was technically impossible.
Get advice from a gestor, asesor fiscal or abogado if the sums are significant. Whether a notification was validly made can sometimes be argued, for example if you were never actually obliged to receive electronic notifications, but this depends on the facts.

Not having seen the email, or being abroad, will not on its own undo a rejected notification.

How Hola Post helps

Hola Post can be registered as your representative so that we collect your Spanish electronic notifications every working day, from the DEHú and the relevant sedes, well inside the 10-day window. Each one is added to your online inbox with an English summary and the deadline it sets, so you see what needs action straight away. See Spanish notifications for how it works, or start here.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if I don't open a Spanish electronic notification within 10 days?

If electronic notification is compulsory for you or you chose it, the notification is treated as rejected once 10 calendar days pass without it being opened. The procedure then continues as if you had been notified, and any deadlines in it start to run.

Are the 10 days working days or calendar days?

Calendar days (días naturales). Weekends and public holidays count, so a notification made available on a Friday before a long weekend still expires 10 days later.

Does the 10-day rule apply to me if I'm a private individual?

Only if you are obliged to receive electronic notifications for that procedure or you have expressly chosen electronic notification. Companies are always in this position, and self-employed people are for Seguridad Social matters.

Can I still read a notification after it has been treated as rejected?

Usually yes. The document normally stays visible in the DEHú or the body's sede electrónica, and you should open it straight away to see what was decided and which deadlines are already running.

Does a missing email alert stop the 10 days?

No. Ley 39/2015 says that failing to send the email or SMS alert does not affect the validity of the notification.

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change, so check your own situation with a gestor, accountant or lawyer.