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Spain

Goods

This guide is for e-commerce companies that sell online via web-stores or at marketplaces. 

 

 Web: Spain’s Tax Agency

 

VAT Standard rate 
21 % 

 

VAT Reduced rate
10 % 
Certain products and services are eligible for the special reduced rate, including: 

  • Food 
  • Pharmaceutical products 
  • Restaurants and catering services 
  • Hotel accommodation 

 

4%
Certain products and services are eligible for the special reduced rate, including: 

  • Food 
  • Books 
  • Newspapers and periodicals 

 

Thresholds
€ 35,000 – distance sales threshold.
When a company’s distant sales hit the threshold, the company must register for the VAT. A merchant may apply to be registered for VAT in Spain before they reach the threshold 

€ 0  

  • If a seller uses a local warehouse (for example Amazon FBA)  
  • If a seller sells excise goods, such as tobacco or alcohol 

 

Deductible VAT 
If goods or services were used to make taxable supplies in Spain, VAT in input invoices might be credited. Examples include: 

  • VAT paid at custom clearance with your EORI number 
  • VAT paid to Spanish suppliers 

 

Registration procedure

When a company has the obligation to register, the owners will be required to complete and submit a VAT registration form, along with supporting documentation.

All documents have to be apostilled and translated into Spanish by a certified translator from the special list approved by Spanish tax authority

  • Certificate of incorporation or Trade Register extract  
  • If the company is appointing a local tax agent or Fiscal Representative, then a Letter of Authority or Power of Attorney 

Tax representative

Taxable companies established outside the European Union are obliged to appoint fiscal representatives in order to handle all formalities related to VAT registration and filing of VAT returns.

Keeping records

According to the information from Spanish tax authority website, the various documents, in paper or electronic format, shall be stored by any means enabling the party bound by the duty to guarantee the authenticity of their origin, the integrity of their content and their legibility, as well as immediate access to them by the Tax Agency except for duly justified reasons. This duty may be discharged through use of electronic means.

When the received or issued invoices refer to acquisitions for which Value Added Tax amounts have been borne and whose deduction is subject to a regularisation period, the said invoices will have to be preserved for the corresponding regularisation period and the four following years.

VAT payment date

Periodical VAT payments are due a quarterly basis or monthly basis. 

The VAT due must be paid before the 20th  day (except for the IV quarter or December – 30th of January) of the month following the period. 

Filing VAT returns

A taxpayer must transmit VAT  returns to Agencia Tributaria by electronic means. LOVAT platform supports digital submission.

The tax period is one month (only for sole traders, professionals, companies and non-legal entities with a turnover greater than €6,010,121.04) or one quarter. VAT returns must be filed by electronic means before the 20th of the month following the period (exception for the IV quarter or December – 30th January).

Filling of annual VAT return is due on 30th of January.  

Companies can also keep track of deadlines at the Lovat portal. 

Digital services

Effective since 1 of January 2015. 

According to the Order HAP/460/2015, 10th March, approving model 368 of Statement-periodic settlement of special regimes, digital services provided B2C by foreign entities are subject to Spanish VAT if the location of the customer is Spain.

 

Web: Spain’s Tax Agency

 

VAT Standard rate 
21% 

VAT Reduced rate
There is no reduced rate established for digital sales. 

 

VAT calculation peculiarity
VAT= Total revenue * 21/121 

Threshold
Tax threshold is €0 for digital goods. 

Pieces of evidence

To identify the customer’s location, the merchant has to collect at least two items on non-contradictory evidence. And if two of them are in Spain, the customer may be determined as Spanish:

  • Billing address (bank or electronic payment operator) 
  • IP address 
  • Telephone number 
  • The location of the customer’s fixed landline through which the service is supplied to him 
  • Other commercially relevant information 

E-services list

A digital product is any product that’s stored, delivered, and used in an electronic format. These are goods or services that the customer receives via email, by downloading them from the Internet, or through logging into a website, in particular:

  • E-books, images, movies, and videos, whether buying a copy from Shopify or using a service like Netflix. In tax language, these products are in a category usually called, «Audio, visual, or audio-visual products»
  • Downloadable and streaming music, whether buying an MP3 or using a service like Sound Cloud or Spotify. Of course, these products also fall in the audio category
  • Cloud-based software and as-a-Service products, such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)
  • Websites, site hosting services, and internet service providers
  • Online ads and affiliate marketing

Registration procedure

Steps for registration for VAT MOSS in Spain: 

  1. Request an individual identification code. Email the Spanish Tax Agency and request your identification code.
  2. The agency will issue your code via email and give you specific instructions to retrieve a certificate.
  3. Fill out form 034, the version titled «System outside the Union». 
  4. Access Spain’s tax portal. 

Keeping records

Records about performed transactions must be kept in order to check the correctness of tax returns and payments. These records must be made available to The Tax Agency of Spain or the responsible central authority of the other EU Member States by electronic means on request. The retention period for the records is ten years.

VAT payment date

The VAT due should be paid by a filing deadline for the VAT return (no later than the 20th day of the month after the end of the tax period – month/quarter) to which it relates.

As a general rule, Spanish VAT returns must be submitted and paid by the 20th day of the month following the reporting period.

Regarding bank holidays in Spain, as there are several differences per region, we suggest taking into account only those bank holidays that apply in the whole Spanish territory.  In any case, the due date calendar published by the authorities every year includes all these dates.

Filing VAT returns

EU VAT returns are due quarterly. At the end of each quarter, you have 20 days to file and pay whatever you owe: 

  • 20 April, for the first quarter ending 31 March 
  • 20 July, for the second quarter ending 30 June 
  • 20 October, for the third quarter ending 30 September 
  • 20 January, for the fourth quarter ending 31 December