As the deadline approaches for the filing of form 361 by those non-EU business applying for the refund of the Spanish VAT the may have incurred during the previous year on occasion of their operative in Spain, it seems timely to revisit a persistent problem in this area: the requirement of reciprocity by article 119bis of the Spanish VAT Act, that transposes the special VAT refund procedure regulated in the Council Directive 86/560 EEC (Thirteenth Directive).   The legal framework   When regulat...

While the VIDA is still to be fully implemented and trasposed, and besides having to digest the changes and their practical consequences, the companies are now invited to elaborate about a notional “post-VIDA” scenario where,again, the VAT Gap mantra is central.Without denying the importance of this imacroeconomic issue, I find the interests of the taxpayers to be completely forgotten, apart from the assumption that, as a colateral, the VIDA will result in an easier management of their VAT compl...

A final draft of the ,so called, “Ley Crea y Crece Ordinance” (the Ordinance) has been published at the website of the Ministry of Economy, Commerce and Enterprise, for a public allegations period ending the 7th of April 2025.   Once the allegation period is over the Ordinance will have to be approved by the Ministers’ Council for its subsequent publication at the official Gazette, to be followed by the Ministerial Order that is to regulate the public e-invoicing solution it regulates (the Minis...

Royal Decree 1305/2024, of December 23, approving the Regulation of the penalty procedure for non-compliance with Intrastat obligations has been published on January 29, 2025, and has entered into force on February 1, 2025.   As a result of these new rules, the penalties can range between 150 € and 6.000 € per Intrastat return, with the possibility of a 50% reduction in case of acceptance and prompt payment (according to the previous regime the penalties ranged between 60,10 € and 30.050,62 €, w...

I. Background   On December 2022 the European Commission proposed a wide reform package to modernize and simplify the EU’s VAT ( “VAT in the Digital Age” or plan ViDA), with new rules on electronic invoices and real-time data reporting, as well as business carried out through digital platforms, with the objectives of fighting against tax fraud, supporting businesses and promoting digitalization. After almost two years of political struggle, the ViDA package was politically adopted by the EU Coun...

   I. Foreword   A pre-requisite for a non-resident company or entrepreneur (hereinafter, for simplicity’s sake, “company” or “companies”) to be subject to any formal obligation in Spain is that, because of is operative within the Spanish territory, it becomes the appointed taxable person and, so, liable for the liquidation of the corresponding Spanish VAT or, in case of the Canary Islands, IGIC.   This would normally be the case when, according to the applicable location rule, the transaction t...