I. Foreword   The scenario of VAT compliance and data reporting obligations at international level has been in turmoil for some years now. If referring to Europe, keeping pace with the EU regulatory initiatives, such as those resulting from the VAT action Plan and, more recently, the VAT in the Digital Age Plan, represents a challenge both for external tax specialists and internal departments in the areas involved (i.e. IT, financial, tax, logistics) alike.   Complexity in the drafting of new E...

I.     Spanish IT regulations affecting VAT   There are different local regulations affecting IT aspects of Spanish VAT, with different level of implementation or scope although. They are complementary and not exclusive, regardless of their likely need to be adapted to future changes in the EU regulations resulting from the ViDA plan.   I.1    Immediate Information Supply (SII)   The “Immediate Information Supply” or SII refers to the obligation affecting some qualifying taxpayers to electronica...

VAT and technology. Prepare for the future now   On 8 December 2022, as part of its VAT action plan, the European Commission launched the “VAT in the Digital Age package” (“ViDA”) that includes proposals to modernize the EU VAT system to address to the challenges of digitalization.   These proposals relate to 3 main topics or pillars:   Pillar one on Digital Reporting Requirements (DRR) and e-invoicingPillar two on Platform EconomyPillar three on Single EU VAT Registration   Although the initial...

When doing imports into Spain, the corresponding VAT is liquidated by Customs and is to be paid before the goods are cleared to free circulation except for the case that the import qualifies for any exemption (i.e. the so called regime 42 where the import is followed by an intracommunity supply or the goods are affected to an special Customs regime).   Since the recovery of import VAT is to be obtained by way of compensation at the corresponding periodical VAT return, this procedure involves a f...

Non-resident companies which, although operating without a permanent establishment, are obliged to file Spanish VAT returns because of their operative and, so, must register for Spanish VAT purposes (what is known as “direct registration”),   This is normally the case when such companies incur intra community acquisitions in Spain and, besides recapitulative returns and, if applicable, intrastate returns, they would have to file quarterly and yearly summary VAT returns and keep Spanish VAT regis...

I.      Background   I.1.   E-invoicing obligation   Before the publication of Law 18/2022 of 28 September regulating the creation and growth of enterprises that modified article 2bis of Law 56/2007 of 28 December of Measures to Promote de Information Society, there was not a general obligation to issue electronic invoices, except for transactions between companies and the Spanish administrations or their public bodies (the, so called, B2G operations).   This obligation does not extend to other ...