Tax Newsletter - June 2018 | Legislation

New instructions for the Intrastat return published

The Official State Gazette (BOE) of May 28, 2018 published the Decision of May 22, 2018 by the Customs and Excise and Other Special Taxes Department at the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT), for the preparation of statistics on trade in goods between Member States (Intrastat System).

This Decision came into force on Tuesday, May 29, 2018.

Finland-Spain tax treaty published

The Official State Gazette of Tuesday, May 29, 2018 published the Convention between the Republic of Finland and the Kingdom of Spain for the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital, done at Helsinki on December 15, 2015.

Here are some of the more notable elements of the tax treaty and its Protocol:

• Dividends are generally taxable at 15%. They are taxable at 5%, however, if the beneficial owner is a company (other than a partnership) which controls directly at least 10% of the voting power at the company paying the dividends. Dividends are not taxable if the beneficiary is a pension plan.
• Interest and royalties are generally taxable only in the state of residence of the entity receiving them.
• A tax at source clause is introduced for gains derived from shares or other rights, deriving more than 50% of their value directly or indirectly from immovable property, except in the case of gains from shares in a company listed on a recognized stock exchange of one of both of the contracting states.
  Gains from shares or other rights which directly or indirectly entitle the owner of such shares to the enjoyment of immovable property are also taxed at source.
• A tax at source clause is also included for pensions and other similar remuneration paid by a state to an individual in respect of services rendered to it. Those types of payments will be taxable only in the other contracting state if the individual is a resident of, and a national of, that state.
• The Protocol contains an anti-evasion clause under which the tax treaty provisions may not be applied in relation to dividends, interest and royalties if their main purpose is precisely to take advantage of the benefits of the tax treaty.

The provisions in article 23 (Mutual agreement procedure) and article 24 (Exchange of information) will take effect from July 27, 2018, the date of entry into force of the treaty, without regard to the fiscal year or period concerned. The other provisions will be applicable, generally, from January 1, 2019.

As an exception, article 18 (on pensions) of the 1967 treaty will continue to apply until the end of the third year following the date of entry into force of the treaty, but only to the extent that the income falling within that article 18 is taxable in the contracting state where the recipient of the income is a resident.

Form 179 for “Information return on homes loaned for tourism purposes” approved

The Official State Gazette of May 30, 2018 has published Order HFP/544/2018, of May 24, 2018, approving form 179, “Information return on homes loaned for tourism purposes”, and establishing the conditions and procedure for filing it.

This new form 179 must be filed by individuals and entities providing intermediary services between the lenders and recipients of homes for tourism purposes, whether for consideration or otherwise. This applies to persons or entities set up as collaborative platforms to intermediate in the loan of use, and qualifying as a provider of an information society service (regardless of whether or not they provide the service for which they are acting as intermediary or of the imposition of terms and conditions regarding the price, the insurance policies, the time periods, or of other types).

The form must be filed quarterly, except in 2018, when it will be an annual form.

The voluntary payment period for 2018 tax on economic activities charges has been modified

The Decision of May 24, 2018 of the Tax Collection Department at AEAT, amending the voluntary payment period for tax on economic activities charges in 2018, was published in the Official State Gazette of June 08, 2018. This Decision relates to the national and provincial tax charges and stipulates where they are to be paid.

The new period will fall between September 17 and November 20, 2018, inclusive, for charges collected through the credit institutions authorized to collect the tax.

Amendment to the Directive on information obligations in relation to potentially aggressive cross-border tax planning mechanisms

Council Directive (EU) 2018/822 of 25 May 2018 amending Directive 2011/16/EU as regards mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements was published in the OJ on June 5, 2018.

This Directive imposes an obligation to report potentially aggressive cross-border tax planning mechanisms on all actors that are usually involved in the designing, marketing, organizing or managing the implementation of a reportable transaction, and on those who provide assistance or advice.

The Directive was discussed in depth in our Tax Commentary 3-2018: Los intermediarios y contribuyentes tendrán que comunicar determinadas operaciones internacionales de planificación fiscal potencialmente agresiva.