Tax Newsletter - November 2024

The Supreme Court recognizes that a principal residence is a productive good, even if it does not create income in the assessment period

The income/wealth limit cannot be used to limit the tax payable for wealth tax purposes on non-productive goods. The court has confirmed in this respect (similarly to the view being taken by the DGT) that even if it does not create income, the principal residence must be treated as a productive good for these purposes.

To apply the reduction in a gifting of a family business, the performance of management functions must take place when the gift is made

Similarly to its previous conclusion on transfers for no consideration upon death, the Supreme Court has affirmed that the requirements relating to the performance of management functions, for the purposes of the family business reduction in gifts, must be met at the recipient when the gift is made.

The tax authorities cannot take the view that services are nonexistent and invoices are invalid if previously, in a procedure carried out against the recipient of those invoices, they accepted them as enforceable and valid

The National Appellate Court has concluded that the tax authorities cannot interpret the existence or otherwise of services depending on whether they review them at the provider or the recipient; if on the one hand they accepted that the services existed for the person that received the invoice and paid the input VAT, they cannot conclude the opposite in a review of the person who issued them and charged the tax.

The principle of availability outside working hours is not sufficient to determine presumed actual use of the vehicle for VAT purposes; and is not valid as a general rule for determining income in kind

TEAC has confirmed that, in a VAT context, the tax authorities must observe the statutory presumed business or professional use of vehicles provided to employees, unless there is proof to the contrary, which must be provided by the tax authorities, and that presumed use cannot be validly overturned by relying on the working hours in the collective labor agreement. Added to this, the DGT has rejected that, for personal income tax purposes, the hours in the collective labor agreement can be used across the board to calculate income in kind. In other words, the specific circumstances must be analyzed in each case.