Spain: VAT financing tips for the COVID crisis

As commented in former entries, regardless of the declaration of alarm status in the country by the Spanish Government no specific postponement measures have been adopted as regards the filing of the periodical VAT returns or its payment for the duration of the COVID crisis which threatens to be long.

Neither the extension of such status until the next 12th of April decided last Saturday nor the decision to stop any non essential activity adopted on Sunday have modified the described taxpayers situation.  

Meanwhile it is doubtful that in the future, as long as the situation and its consequences continue, the financing of VAT returns will constitute an issue, in the short term there is still problem of how to deal with those  returns corresponding to periods previous to the crisis which deadlines are close (the next 25^th of April for the March monthly return and the  30^th for first quarter).

Here are some tips that, we hope, could help companies with the financial problem  created by the fact that, in principle, the VAT that was charged in the invoices issued in those periods would still be accrued and payable regardless of the same remining unpaid.

Tip 1. Unpaid advance payments:

It must be mentioned that the VAT charged in those invoices corresponding to advance payments will not be accrued unless the invoice is actually paid. The company should exclude from their VAT return both the taxable base and VAT quotas for these unpaid invoices.

Tip 2. Special VAT rules for unpaid invoices:

The Spanish VAT contemplate certain specialities as regards unpaid invoices which may positively affect the financial situation of the company, namely:

1) Reduction of the taxable base

Under certain conditions the company can reduce the taxable base to be declared as regards those invoices which have been unpaid. This is the case for:

• Clients declared bankrupt. 

• Late payment debts exceeding 1 year (6 months if a small company). 

It is important to notice that, in both cases, there are special conditions, formalities and deadlines to comply with (among other the issuing of a correcting invoice or the placing of a formal payment request).

2) Deferral of payment

As an exception to the rule that no charged tax can be postponed, the company can benefit from the general postponement regime as regards those VAT quotas corresponding to unpaid invoices.

On this issue we refer to our former entry “Spain: The payment of VAT returns under a declared emergency. Application of the general postponement regime under anomalous circumstances when no special provisions are contemplated by the emergency regulations”.

It is of interest to mention that although the postponement of a tax payment is automatically granted if a bank guarantee is provided, the postponement could also be possible with alternative guaranties or no guaranties at all if accepted by the authorities (which involves a strict procedure where the company proves it inability to provide such a bank guarantee).

Tip 3. Payment by compensation:

The General Tax Law contemplate the possibility that the taxpayer applies for the payment of its tax debts by compensation against any amount receivable it may have from the Administration, either for the same tax (i.e. outstanding VAT receivables from other periods), other taxes (i.e. Corporate tax, Withholding tax) or because of any other reason (i.e. outstanding payments from contractual relationship with a Spanish administration or public body).

If future entries we will provide additional tips so companies operating in Spain being in a VAT receivable position avoid incurring input VAT unnecessary and so reduce the financial cost derived from this tax.