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Spain Update: News on VAT taxation in E-commerce
24/05/2021The rules on taxation in VAT on sales of goods and services contracted online by Community consumers and sent or provided by employers from another EU Member State or from a country outside the EU is laid down.
On 28 April, Royal Decree-Law 7/2021 of 27 April was published in the BOE, transposing EU directives relating, inter alia, to the taxation in VAT on electronic commerce into the Spanish legal system.
The rules on taxation in VAT on sales of goods and services contracted online by Community consumers and sent or provided by employers from another EU Member State or from a country outside the EU is laid down.
These transactions are subject to VAT in the Member State of arrival of the goods, and therefore the generalization of the principle of taxation at destination in cross-border transactions for VAT purposes is consolidated.
The main novelty incorporated in the VAT Law provides for the extension of the one-stop shop to be submitted by a single VAT return to the tax authorities of the Member State chose, the breakdown of all sales made to individuals in the EU with vat revenue corresponding to the Member State of destination of the goods. Thus, the selling employer may enter the VAT accrued in all his transactions carried out in the EU to which he applies the special scheme to a single EU Member State. The system will apply once the threshold of EUR 10,000 of online services and distance sales carried out in the EU during the preceding calendar year is exceeded.
To channel the above developments, the following special regimes are created:
- Union external scheme that will apply to services provided by employers not established in the EU to individuals.
- Union regime applicable to services provided by employers established in the EU, but not in the Member State of consumption, to individuals. This scheme will also apply to intra-Community distance sales of goods and internal deliveries of goods attributed to holders of digital interfaces, which facilitate the delivery of these goods by a supplier not established in the EU to final consumers.
- Import regime applicable to distance sales of goods imported from third countries to which employers who make remote sales of goods imported from countries outside the EU in shipments to individuals whose intrinsic value does not exceed EUR 150 may be eligible for remote sales of goods imported from countries outside the EU.
There is currently a special regime for declaring and entering VAT on distance sales made in favor of individuals residing in the EU. The problem with this scheme is that when certain sales thresholds set by each EU country are exceeded, the selling employer is obliged to register for VAT purposes in each of the Member States for which the threshold has been exceeded in order to be able to declare and enter VAT corresponding to sales made in those States.
Another novelty incorporated into the VAT Act, concerning distance sales of imported goods whose intrinsic value does not exceed EUR 150 and sales of goods in the EU by entrepreneurs not established in the EU, in both cases, to individuals, is to establish that the entrepreneur holding the digital interface or Marketplace has received and delivered the goods by himself, the employer must enter the corresponding VAT.
In addition, it is envisaged that employers not established in the EU may designate an intermediary established in the EU as responsible for vat settlement.
Companies affected by these developments will need to review cross-border VAT transactions for individuals residing in the EU in order to consider opting for one of the above special schemes and simplify VAT management.
By Álvaro Crespo and published at ABCD Legal, the Blog of Marimón Abogados in Food Retail & Shoppers, Marimón Abogados, Spain, a Transatlantic Law International Affiliated Firm.
For further information or for any assistance please contact spain@transatlanticlaw.com