MEASURES PUT IN PLACE TO SUSPEND TAX DEADLINES

1. Within the State Administration (Spanish Tax Agency) tax liabilities relating to tax returns and self-assessments due to be presented and paid between March 14, 2020, and May 30, 2020, with the following criteria have been deferred.

- They will be deferred at the request of the taxpayer, not automatically.

- They will be deferred for a period of six months. The payment is not split into instalments, but deferred as a whole, to be paid within six months. For example, the VAT self-assessment corresponding to the first quarter of 2020 must be paid on April 20, 2020. If a tax deferral was to be requested the amount would be paid on October 20, 2020.

- The amount cannot exceed 30.000 euros.

- Even the tax liabilities that correspond to withholdings and payments on account and payments in instalments of corporation tax, which under normal circumstances are non-deferrable, can be deferred.

- The debtor must be a person or entity and their trading turnover cannot exceed 6,010,121.04 euros in 2019.

- No late payment interest will accrue for the first three months. However, these deferrals will accrue interest for the remaining three months, at a rate of 3,75% per year.

- There will be one payment deadline (as the debt has not been split into instalments but deferred). If the debtor would like to pay the amounts deferred before the six-month deadline finalises, they can do so by obtaining a payslip and making the payment.

2. The following payments are extended to April 30, 2020, and must be paid between March 18, 2020, and April 30, 2020.

- Payment deadlines for tax settlements pursued by the Administration (not self-assessments, which are governed by the provisions of point 1 above).

- Payment deadlines for debts notified with a collection order.

- The payments of the instalments and deferrals granted. If there are several deadlines to be met between March 18, 2020, and April 30, 2020, they will all be due on April 30, 2020, without increasing the amount to be paid.

3. The deadlines concerning the following events are also extended to April 30, 2020.

- Deadlines for holding online auctions for the disposal of assets seized by the Tax Office.

- Deadlines for the allocation of assets or group of assets seized by the Tax Office.

- Deadlines for dealing with requirements, attachment proceedings and requests for tax related information.

- The deadline to submit allegations once the allegation stage and/or the hearing in tax application procedures commences (verification of data, limited inspection, verification of values, contradictory expert appraisal, verification and investigation, writ, seizure, etc.), in penalty procedures and special review procedures (to be declared void, reimbursement of taxes overpaid, rectification of errors and reversal).  These deadlines do not include economic-administrative appeals and complaints, which are addressed in section 6.

- Deadlines to respond to requirements and requests of information made by the General Directorate for the Cadastre that are still within their time limit to reply on March 18, 2020.

- Deadlines to enforce guarantees on real estate by the administration in an enforcement procedure.

4. Payments due between March 18, 2020, and May 20, 2020, are extended until May 20, 2020, provided that the requirement to make the payment is made known as of March 18, 2020. These payments are the following:

- Payment deadlines for tax settlements pursued by the Administration (not for self-assessments, which are governed by the provisions of point 1 above).

- Payment deadlines for debts notified with a collection order.

- Payments of the instalments and deferrals granted. If there are several deadlines to be met by May 20, 2020, they will all be due on May 20, 2020, without the amount to be paid increasing.

5. The deadlines that concern the following events are also extended to May 20, 2020, provided that the need for the action in question is made known as of March 18, 2020.

- Deadlines for holding online auctions for the disposal of assets seized by the Tax Office.

- Deadlines for the allocation of assets or group of assets seized by the Tax Office.

- Deadlines for dealing with requirements, attachment proceedings and requests for tax related information.

- The deadline to submit allegations once the allegation stage and/or the hearing in tax application procedures commences (verification of data, limited verification, verification of values, contradictory expert appraisal, verification and investigation, writ, seizure, etc.), in penalty procedures and special review procedures (to be declared void, reimbursement of overpaid taxes, rectification of errors and reversal), unless the time limits granted by the general rule end after May 20, 2020.  These deadlines do not include economic-administrative appeals and claims, which are addressed in section 6.

- Deadlines to address the initiation of allegation stages or hearings that are announced after March 18, 2020, by the General Directorate of Cadastre, unless the period granted is later than May 20, 2020.

6. The deadlines for lodging economic-administrative appeals and claims against tax acts and for appealing against the resolutions of economic-administrative proceedings through an administrative review will not begin until after April 30, 2020.

However, it is important to consider the following to avoid any possible negative consequences for taxpayers:

- The government has provided these deadlines to lodge appeals and complaints but has not referred to those initiated before or after March 18, 2020. We, therefore, understand that due to the “in dubio pro administrado” principle, these deadlines apply to all appeals and complaints, initiated both before and after that date. The period to appeal or claim against procedures concluded and notified after March 18, will commence on April 30, 2020. However, it is unclear whether those concluded and notified before March 18, 2020, will be discontinued, starting again from April 30, or whether they will be suspended and resumed after April 30, 2020.

- Likewise, the government has not regulated the deadlines for procedures that have already concluded, only for those that conclude after March 18, 2020. This could lead to belief that the deadlines for procedures that have already concluded are still open, however, we do not believe that this is the case due to the spirit of the law and because when in doubt “in dubio pro administrado” and “in dubio pro actione” principles must prevail.

- The Government has not approved the suspension or interruption of the deadlines for the allegation stage in economic-administrative procedures since these procedures do not constitute tax application procedures, penalty procedures or special review procedures. This, therefore, suggests that the deadline to submit allegations in an economic-administrative procedure is still open, and although this contradicts the spirit of law, in this case, there are no doubts about the regulation, rather a lack of regulation, leading us to wonder whether the Government has forgotten about it or has expressly wished not to suspend or interrupt the deadline to formalise this procedure.

7. As for the submission of self-assessments which are due to be carried out during the state of emergency (whether that be monthly or quarterly), they must still be submitted, meaning that between 1 and 20 April 2020, the self-assessments for the taxes of the first quarter of 2020 must be presented.

- On the date of this article (26/03/2020), no standard has been issued to defer the obligation to submit such self-assessments.

- Professional associations in the taxation field are urging the Government to agree to defer the obligation to file these self-assessments. To this day a third request has been made and we are waiting for the ministry to address it.

- Some press articles have stated that the obligation to submit self-assessments will be deferred until July 20, 2020. However, no rule has been published to that effect, meaning that to date, the self-assessments that are due during the state of emergency must still be submitted.

- In any case, any new developments about the submission deadlines for the self-assessments due during the state of emergency will be published on www.ferrerasociados.com.