The new indirect taxes for 2021

Two new taxes, the Financial Transaction Tax and the Tax on Certain Digital Services for large companies, will apply from 16 January 2021

On 16 October, the BOE published the application of two new taxes in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which will come into force on 16 January 2021, the main features of which are as follows:

Tax on Financial Transfers

This tax is levied at 0.2% on onerous acquisitions of shares representing the share capital of Spanish companies, provided that their shares are admitted to trading on a regulated market and that they have a market capitalisation value of more than 1,000 million euros.

The taxpayer will generally be the acquirer of the securities, with the financial intermediary that transmits or executes the acquisition order acting as the taxpayer. The tax is payable when the registration entry is made.

Tax on Certain Digital Services for large companies.

This tax is levied on the provision of certain digital services in which users are involved. In particular, the tax is levied on online advertising services, online intermediation services and data transmission services.

The taxpayer of this tax will be those legal entities with a net turnover of more than 750 million euros and when the total amount of income derived from this type of digital services exceeds 3 million euros.

The tax will accrue when the taxable transactions are provided, executed or carried out, and the tax rate will be 3%.

As these are new taxes, of which there is no precedent, we will have to wait for their regulatory development, as their application could raise various doubts that will have to be studied in detail in each specific case.