- Making repeated requests for deferral or suspension of the same debt no longer delays the start of the enforcement period.
- The duty to report virtual currencies is developed, with first returns due from 2024.
- Failing to file annual accounts for four years can lead to revocation of the tax ID.
The Official State Gazette published Royal Decree 249/2023 of 4 April on 5 April 2023, amending seven tax regulations: those on administrative review, collection and tax management and inspection, which implement the General Tax Law, and those for inheritance and gift tax, value added tax, personal income tax and corporate tax. Most of its rules come into force on 25 April, twenty days after publication, with one exception in VAT detailed below.
The aim is to bring into the regulations the changes that Law 11/2021 on preventing and combating tax fraud had already made in the law itself. It is a technical text, but with practical effects for companies and individuals: how a deferral is requested, what happens if annual accounts are not filed, what must be reported on virtual currencies or how certain life insurance policies are valued for wealth tax.
Collection and tax ID
The review and collection regulations recognise that repeating requests for suspension, deferral, instalments, offsetting or payment in kind does not prevent the enforcement period from starting where another request on the same debt was previously refused. In practice, chaining requests to gain time stops working, and it is wise to file the right request from the outset, with the proper guarantee where one is required.
The grounds for revoking the tax identification number are also widened: it can be done in other procedures, not only in a census check, and there is a new ground, failing to file annual accounts with the Commercial Registry for four consecutive years. The number could be reinstated only if the breach is put right. For inactive or neglected companies, it is a reason to bring their registry obligations up to date.
Virtual currencies, insurance and funds
The royal decree develops the new reporting duties on holding and dealing in virtual currencies, including those held abroad, and sets valuation rules so that reporting is in legal tender. The first returns are to be filed from 1 January 2024. This is a tax-transparency duty; this note does not recommend dealing in any asset.
It also adapts the duty to report life insurance, which in certain cases is valued at its mathematical provision for wealth tax, and extends to listed funds and investment companies established in other States the exclusion from withholding that Spanish ones already had. This aligns the treatment of listed funds regardless of the market on which they trade.
Other changes and what to review
Among other adjustments, residents of the European Union or the European Economic Area with mutual assistance will not need to appoint a representative in Spain for inheritance tax obligations; in personal income tax it is made clear that not paying the initial 60% of the special instalment plan starts the enforcement period for the whole debt; and in VAT the record books will allow certain adjustments to be entered without a corrective invoice from 1 July 2023.
It is worth reviewing the calendar of deferrals and instalments, checking that the annual accounts of all group companies have been filed, preparing the information on virtual currencies that will be requested in 2024 and reviewing how life insurance appears in the wealth tax return. This is general information; your tax adviser can pin down the effect in each case. It is best done before 25 April, when most of the changes enter into force.
Regulations are the small print of the law, and the small print is where the deadlines usually are.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
