On December 29th, 2021, it was published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) the Law 22/2021, of December 28th, on the State General Budgets for the year 2022. The most relevant tax measures introduced are described below.
Corporate Income Tax
With effects for tax periods starting as from January 1st, 2022, a minimum taxation rule of 15% is introduced in Corporate Income Tax for taxpayers with a net turnover of at least 20 million euros or who, regardless of the previous limit, are taxed under the consolidated tax group regime.
However, this rule is not applicable to taxpayers subject to a reduced rate of this tax, such as non-profit entities (to which Law 49/2002 of 23 December 2002 applies), pension funds, SOCIMIs, etc. On the other hand, for the calculation of the minimum net tax liability, the rate will be 18% for entities subject to the 30% tax rate (credit institutions and entities subject to the special hydrocarbon regime), and 10% for newly created entities subject to the 15% tax rate.
In order to determine the aforementioned limit, in general, the net tax liability resulting from reducing the gross tax liability by the allowances and deductions may not be less than the minimum net tax liability (15% of the taxable base after offsetting the tax losses and applying the allowances and deductions for double taxation).
This measure shall mainly affect taxpayers who are entitled to apply certain deductions such as those for research, development and technological innovation (R&D&i) or donations to non-profit entities.
The minimum taxation rule will also be applicable to Non-Resident Income Tax payers who operate in Spain through a permanent establishment.
In relation to this tax, another measure applicable to entities under the special regime for housing leasing entities is introduced, reducing the allowance from 85% to 40%.
Personal Income Tax
The maximum annual number of contributions to Social Security systems entitled to reduction is reduced from 2,000 to 1,500 euros.
However, in the case of contributions to company pension plans, the limit is increased by 8,500 euros (becoming 10,000 euros) when the contributions come from company contributions or employee contributions to the same Social Security instrument, provided that the employee contributions are equal to or less than the company contribution. It will therefore be necessary that employee’s contributions to be less than or equal to the contributions made by the company.
Therefore, it will be necessary that the employee’s contributions are less than or equal to the contributions made by the company.
Tax on Economic Activities
With effect for tax periods starting as from the entry into force of the Law, a new caption is created for Rates of the Tax on Economic Activities, to classify the activity carried out by journalists and other information and communication professionals, since to date there has been no specific caption for these activities.
Specifically, caption 863 “Journalists and other information and communication professionals” is created.
Other matters
The quantitative limits to be able to apply the objective estimation regime for Personal Income Tax, as well as the simplified VAT regime and the special regime for agriculture, livestock and fishing (REAGP) are extended for the fiscal year 2022.
The rates of the fixed amount of the State Treasury taxes are raised to the amount resulting from the application of the coefficient 1.01 to the amount payable during the year 2021.
