He Royal Decree-Law 3/2016, of December 2, eliminated the possibility of granting deferrals or installments of certain tax debts, including those derived from fractional payments of Corporate Tax and those derived from taxes that, such as VAT, must be legally passed on, unless it is justified that the passed-on amounts have not been effectively paid.
Processing of postponements after Royal Decree-Law 3/2016
Requests for postponement or installment of debts affected by this measure will be inadmissible, while the rest of the requests will be processed based on their amount, in accordance with the established procedure, which has not been modified by the Royal Decree-Law. Thus, requests for deferral or installments that refer to debts for a global amount equal to or less than 30,000 euros will not need to provide guarantees, and will be processed through an automated process. Requests for a higher global amount must provide appropriate guarantees and will be processed through an ordinary non-automated process. The limit exempt from providing guarantees was raised in October 2015 from 18,000 euros to the current 30,000 euros.
Incidence of the measure for the self-employed
As regards the self-employed, the measure relating to installment payments of Corporate Tax does not affect them, since they pay personal income tax. The measure on passed-on VAT does affect them, although they will be able to continue requesting deferrals and installments of VAT if they justify that they have not collected the passed-on fees. Therefore, the main modification for the self-employed will be that they will have to prove that they have not collected the output VAT payments, particularly in those requests that exceed the limit exempt from guarantees.
Consequently, the self-employed may request the deferral, whatever the amount, of their personal income tax and VAT in the following circumstances, depending on the overall amount of the debt:
- If the requests refer to a debt whose overall amount is equal to or less than 30,000 euros, deferrals may be granted, without guarantees, up to a maximum of 12 monthly installments, unless the obligor has requested a lower number of installments, in which case, the requested deadlines will be granted. The frequency of payments will be, in any case, monthly. They are processed through an automated resolution mechanism.
- If the requests refer to a debt whose overall amount exceeds 30,000 euros, deferrals may be granted, depending on the type of guarantee provided by the debtor, and for a maximum period of 36 monthly installments, unless the obligor has requested a lower number of deadlines, in which case, the requested deadlines will be granted. If the debts are due to VAT, it will also be necessary to prove that the VAT contributions charged have not been paid.
For any questions about the tax news for 2017, do not hesitate to contact our tax advisors, through contact email, or directly in our offices.
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