- The Official State Gazette of 5 February publishes forms 040 and 238, which implement in Spain the EU administrative cooperation directive known as DAC 7.
- Platforms must identify their sellers and report to the tax authorities what they earn through them, so that the information circulates between States.
- Anyone who sells, rents out or provides services through a platform should know that their income will be visible to the authorities: it is best to have it declared.
The Official State Gazette of 5 February 2024 publishes Order HAC/72/2024 of 1 February, which approves two forms. Form 040 is the census return for registration, amendment and deregistration in the registers of platform operators; form 238 is the information return with which those operators report on their sellers. The order took effect the following day and applies for the first time to form 238 for the 2023 financial year, which must be filed within two months of that entry into force.
The regulation originates in Directive (EU) 2021/514, known as DAC 7, and in the OECD model rules on the automatic exchange of information on income earned through digital platforms. In Spain it was incorporated by Law 13/2023 of 24 May and Royal Decree 117/2024 of 30 January, which sets out the due diligence rules. The idea is simple: that those who earn income through a platform, by renting out property, providing personal services, selling goods or renting means of transport, should not escape taxation for lack of information.
What changes for platforms
Operators with a reporting obligation must collect the data of reportable sellers, apply due diligence procedures and file every year with the tax authority form 238 covering the relevant activities of the period. Non-qualified foreign operators that choose Spain as their single Member State of registration, and other obligated operators, must register using form 040, which also serves for amendments and deregistrations, to be filed within one month of the events that trigger them.
Excluded operators, which can show that their business model has no reportable sellers, file a negative return during January of the following year. And qualified non-EU operators, whose activities are already subject to automatic exchange, do not have to file the form. The result is that sellers’ information travels between the authorities of the Member States and of other jurisdictions that have joined the OECD agreement.
Effect on sellers and hosts
For people who rent out homes, sell products or provide services through platforms, the consequence is that their identification, income and number of transactions may reach the tax authority without their having to do anything. In practice, platforms will request data such as the tax number, tax residence or address, and must tell the seller what they report.
That creates no new taxes, but it makes it harder for real income to go undeclared. Those who have paid tax correctly have nothing to fear; those who have not would do well to regularise their position before receiving a request. Each activity has its own treatment in income tax and VAT, and it is not always the same for rental, regular sales or services.
What to review
If you run a platform, a marketplace or a service that intermediates between sellers and buyers, now is the time to check whether you are an obligated operator, in which State you must register and whether your systems collect the due diligence data: identification, tax residence, amounts collected and number of transactions per quarter.
If you are a seller or host, it is advisable to reconcile what you have received through each platform with what you declared for income tax and VAT, and to keep the supporting documents. The data the platform reports should match your accounts. For questions on how to classify each activity, the prudent course is to consult your adviser.
Platforms are becoming, besides intermediaries, informants for the tax authorities.
This article is general information. It is not legal, tax or investment advice, and it does not take anyone’s particular circumstances into account.
