On 18 March 2020, two new royal decrees were published in the Spanish Gazette. Those royal decrees specify the scope of the suspension and postponement measures of the tax terms and obligations stated in royal decree 463/2020, dated 14 March, declaring the state of alarm. Please find below a summary of the measures we have considered more relevant.
1. The suspension of the administrative terms stated in Royal Decree 463/2020 does not affect the deadlines for filing tax returns. This determines that the obligation of filing regular (monthly and quarterly) returns (e.g. VAT returns, withholding tax returns and CIT down-payments) is not suspended, and those returns must therefore be submitted and paid within their respective deadlines.
2. For all those assessments that have already been notified by the Tax Authorities where a tax liability is to be paid, and in the tax procedures already started which deadline has not expired today (18 March), such deadline is extended until 30 April, 2020.
3. All the new legal terms and payment obligations that are notified as from today (18 March) are extended until 20 May 2020, unless the legal term stated in the corresponding regulation is longer, in which case the latter term would be applicable.
4. The Spanish Tax Authorities could continue with those procedures already started as well as start new procedures during the current state of alarm. Nevertheless, the legal term for their attendance, which applies to the taxpayers involved in those procedures, is extended until 30 April 2020 for those procedures already in process, and until 20 May, 2020 for procedures started as from today.
5. The legal term for filing Administrative appeals (i.e. appeals filed before the Tax Authorities and before the Economic-administrative Courts) against tax acts that are notified until 30 April, 2020 will not begin until 30 April 2020.
In our opinion, although all those measures reveal a big effort from the Government in making the tax procedures more flexible, no exception on the general deadlines for filing the tax returns is foreseen for those entrepreneurs that cannot comply with this obligation due to force majeure. This can mainly damage self-employers and SMEs without sufficient financial resources.
This report was prepared by:
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