Spain
This guide is for e-commerce companies that sell online via web stores or at marketplaces.
Provinces
Goods
Provinces
Goods
Digital
About
Goods
About
Goods
About
Digital
About
Digital
Goods
Digital
Goods
Digital
VAT Standard rate
The standard VAT rate in Spain in 2024 is 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.
- Food;
- Books;
- Newspapers and periodicals;
Effective since 1st of January 2015.
According to 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 in Spain.
VAT Standard rate
The standard VAT rate in Spain in 2024 is 21%.VAT Reduced rate
There is no reduced rate established for digital sales.VAT calculation peculiarity
VAT= Total revenue * 21/121.
VAT Standard rate
21%
VAT Reduced rate
10%, 4%
Thresholds
€10,000
Thresholds
From the 1st of July 2021, the distance selling thresholds were withdrawn and replaced by a unified threshold of EUR10,000 for all EU members. In other words, VAT should be charged at the VAT rate of the customer’s country of residence by companies whose annual taxable cross-border turnover is over EUR 10,000.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 the 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 is.
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 rates in the autonomous regions of Spain
Spain’s autonomous regions, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, implement their Value Added Tax (VAT) rates, differing from the mainland.- Canary Islands: Standard rate is 7%. Reduced rates of 3%. Increased Rates 9,5%.
- Ceuta: Standard rate is 0.5%. Increased Rates 3%, 5%, and 10%.
- Melilla: Standard rate is 4%. Increased Rates 3%, 4%, 5%, 7%, and 10%.
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 (except for the IV quarter or December – 30th January). Filling of the annual VAT return is due on the 30th of January. Companies can also keep track of deadlines at the Lovat portal.E-invoicing Spain
The first e-invoicing law in Spain, 25/2013, requires the use of electronic invoices as well as the accounting of invoices in the public sector. This law makes the electronic submission of invoices to government agencies mandatory from 2015. However, if the amount is less than 5000 EUR, administrations may accept invoices in hard copy. The amendment to Law 18/2022 (Crea y Crece) issued at the beginning of 2024 establishes mandatory electronic invoicing for B2B transactions:- For companies with a total revenue of €8 million per year or more, the law comes into force one year after the technical rules on electronic invoicing have been established.
- Businesses with revenues under €8 million a year will have to start complying with the law in two years.
- both resident and non-resident companies if they are VAT registered in Spain and have an annual turnover of more than €6 million per year;
- companies included in the Registry of Monthly Returns;
- companies included in VAT groups registered in Spain;
- VAT payers who have voluntarily joined the system.
Threshold
The 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:- Request an individual identification code. Email the Spanish Tax Agency and request your identification code;
- The agency will issue your code via email and give you specific instructions to retrieve a certificate;
- Fill out form 034, the version titled «System outside the Union»;
- 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 rates in the autonomous regions of Spain
Spain’s autonomous regions, Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla, implement their Value Added Tax (VAT) rates, differing from the mainland.- Canary Islands: Standard rate is 7%. Reduced rates of 3%. Increased Rates 9,5%.
- Ceuta: Standard rate is 4%. Reduced rates of 0.5%, 1%, and 2%. Increased Rates 6%, 9%, and 10%.
- Melilla: Standard rate is 4%. Reduced rates of 0.5%, 1%, and 2%. Increased Rates 8%.
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.
E-invoicing Spain
The first e-invoicing law in Spain, 25/2013, requires the use of electronic invoices as well as the accounting of invoices in the public sector. This law makes the electronic submission of invoices to government agencies mandatory from 2015. However, if the amount is less than 5000 EUR, administrations may accept invoices in hard copy. The amendment to Law 18/2022 (Crea y Crece) issued at the beginning of 2024 establishes mandatory electronic invoicing for B2B transactions:- For companies with a total revenue of €8 million per year or more, the law comes into force one year after the technical rules on electronic invoicing have been established.
- Businesses with revenues under €8 million a year will have to start complying with the law in two years.
- both resident and non-resident companies if they are VAT registered in Spain and have an annual turnover of more than €6 million per year;
- companies included in the Registry of Monthly Returns;
- companies included in VAT groups registered in Spain;
- VAT payers who have voluntarily joined the system.
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