The Official State Gazette has published the Royal Decree 1075/2017 of 29 December 2017 which introduces amendments to a decree published a year earlier.
The modifications concern the Value Added Tax rules and the system of immediate electronic reporting of fiscal data to the State Tax Agency (AEAT). These amendments came into force the 1st January, 2018.
THE IMMEDIATE ELECTRONIC REPORTING – FOR STREAMLINING OF VAT PROCEDURES AND FIGHTING AGAINST THE TAX FRAUD
Initially, in the decree published in December 2016, the Spanish government introduced the electronic system of the Immediate Supply of information on VAT (SII, that is « Suministro Immediato de Informacion del IVA », or a system of immediate declaration), mandatory for certain Spanish companies starting from July 1, 2017.
A similar system to the one applicable in Spain already exists, namely in France (fichier numérique des écritures comptables), in Luxembourg (Standard Audit File SAF-T), in Poland (Standard Audit File SAF-T), as well as in the Czech Republic (kontrolni hlaseni).
The implementation of this system in Spain thus allows a streamlining both at the level of VAT management process and the VAT refund procedures. It also serves as a tool against the VAT tax fraud.
FRAMEWORK FOR THE APPLICATION OF THE SII SYSTEM
This system is mandatory as of the 1st January 2017 for the large companies with a turnover in Spain exceeding 6 million euros, the companies belonging to a VAT group in Spain, and the companies applying the « REDEME » regime (a special monthly VAT refund scheme). Other companies can opt for its implementation.
The companies must respect the deadline of 4 days maximum for filing all the invoices issued or received, and that even for the simplified invoices. A penalty of 0,5 % of the amount of the non-sent invoices may be applied (min 300 € – max 6K €).
The Royal Decree 1075/2017 of 29th December 2017 has provided certain modifications or precisions in relation to the SII system in Spain, namely:
- A company that has voluntary opted for the SII, cannot keep the simplified VAT regime.
- The deadline for notifications of rectifications is set on the 15th of the month following the end of the period in which the error is detected.
In this context, the administration has put in place certain incentive mechanisms (under certain conditions) in order to encourage the companies to apply this regime.
The experts of ASD Group, present in 24 countries all over the world, keep up-to-date with international regulations for their clients and manage their files dealing with complex international flows every day (VAT registration, VAT declarations, VAT refund, fiscal representation, etc.). Do not hesitate to contact us for any of these questions.
