17 Mar COVID-19: Urgent tax measures adopted by the Royal Decree 7/2020
With the declaration of the state of alarm due to COVID-19, the Spanish government has included two tax measures among those contained in the Royal Decree 7/2020, of 12 March, which will be detailed below:
1.- Debt deferment for SMEs and self-employed workers
The government enables the option of requesting a deferment of tax debts arising from returns-settlements whose deadline for filing is between 13 March and 30 May 2020. It is important to note that, unlike the usual deferral system, in this case it is also possible to request the same on withholdings, payments on account of the corporate income tax or the value added tax.
Only those persons or entities whose volume of operations in 2019 did not exceed €6,010,121.04 can benefit from this deferral.
The conditions of the deferment requested under this regulation are as follows:
• The deferment shall be for a period of 6 months.
• During the first three months, no interest on arrears shall accrue.
The specific procedure to request this deferral before the State Agency of Tax Administration (AEAT) is explained in detail in the following document issued by the AEAT itself, which can be downloaded here:
https://www.agenciatributaria.es/static_files/AEAT/Contenidos_Comunes/La_Agencia_Tributaria/Le_Interesa/2020/Instrucciones_presentacion_aplazamiento.pdf
2.- Suspension of administrative deadlines:
While the Royal Decree or any of its extensions are in force, the deadlines for administrative procedures, including tax procedures, are suspended.
The wording of the Royal Decree is not clear enough to determine whether this suspension includes the deadlines for filing returns which fall within this period, although an interpretation consistent with the conditions for deferment of debt payment described above indicates that this is not the case and that such returns-settlements must be filed within their deadlines.
We expect that the tax administration will soon clarify this aspect, as doubts increase with respect to other returns that do not involve the entry of debts, such as the so-called SII (“Suministro Inmediato de Información del IVA”, i.e. Immediate Provision of VAT Information) regarding the VAT or the declaration of goods and rights abroad (Form 720).
If you have any doubts or need advice on how to comply with the above-mentioned tax procedures, please contact us at info@matp.es
