In the Official State Gazette of December 29, 2021, Law 22/2021, of December 28, of the General State Budget for the year 2022 has been published. In turn, Law 1/2021, of December 29, 2021, on the budgets of the Generalitat de Catalunya for 2022 and Law 2/2021, of December 29, 2021, on fiscal, financial, administrative and public sector measures related to its own taxes, were published in the Official Gazette of December 31, 2021.
Below are some of the measures that, due to their relevance in tax matters, may be of interest:
Personal Income Tax
- The base for contributions to pension plans is reduced to the lower of 30% of the sum of net income from work and economic activities received in the year and 1,500 euros per year, except for those coming from business contributions, in which case the limit is increased to 8,500 euros, maintaining this at 10,000 euros. Included among the business contributions are the contributions made by the individual entrepreneur to employment benefit plans or mutual benefit societies of which he/she is the promoter and participant or member of a mutual benefit society.
Contributions in favor of the spouse are still limited to €1,000.
As a novelty, workers are allowed to match their contribution to that of the company without the sum of both exceeding €8,500 per year.
- The limits to be excluded from the objective estimation regime in Personal Income Tax, which have not been modified since 2016 and until 2022, are maintained.
Corporate Income Tax
- Article 30 of the Corporate Income Tax Law is amended, establishing that the tax credits and deductions provided for in the tax regulations will be applied to the gross tax payable, giving rise to the net tax payable, which may in no case be negative.
- The minimum taxation (art. 30 bis LIS) is set at 15% of the taxable base for taxpayers with a minimum net turnover of 20 million Euros or more in the twelve months prior to the tax period, or who pay tax under the tax consolidation regime, regardless of the amount of the turnover.
- In the case of newly created entities that meet the requirements of the preceding paragraph, the minimum tax rate will be 10%.
- The minimum tax rate is 18% for credit institutions and exploration, research and exploitation of hydrocarbon deposits and subway storage facilities, and the general tax rate for these is 30%.
The minimum tax rate is applied to the taxable income less any applicable allowances, the equalization reserve and the deductions for domestic and international double taxation, for which reason the effective rate may be lower than the rate.
If after the application of the allowances and deductions indicated in the preceding paragraph, an amount higher than the minimum net tax liability results, the remaining deductions may be applied up to the amount of this minimum tax liability.
- The rules of the Corporate Income Tax will also be applicable as regards the minimum taxation, for the taxpayers of the Non-Resident Income Tax with permanent establishment. With respect to the special regime for the rental of housing, the current 85% allowance on the gross tax liability corresponding to income derived from the rental of housing is reduced to 40%, and the requirements for its application are maintained.
Taxes on economic activities
- A new caption (863) is created for journalists and other information and communication professionals.
Value Added Tax
- The extension of the limits established in the simplified VAT regime and the special regime for agriculture, livestock and fishing is maintained for 2022.
IPREM
The public indicator of multiple effects income is modified as follows:
- The daily IPREM is fixed at €19.30.
- The monthly IPREM is fixed at 579.02€.
- The annual IPREM is fixed at 6.948,24€ or 8.106,28 if the extraordinary payments are included.
Legal interest rate and interest for late payment
- The legal interest rate remains at 3%
- The interest for late payment, referred to in the General Tax Law, remains at 3.75%
- The interest for late payment, referred to in the General Law on Subsidies, is fixed at 3.75%
Inheritance tax in Catalonia
- The extraordinary deferral of payment of inheritance tax is extended to two years, in the event that the inventory of assets does not include sufficient cash or easily realizable assets to pay the tax.
- A modification is also made to regulate the relationship attributed for tax purposes to persons who are or have been fostered with respect to their fosterers.
Measures related to own taxes
- In relation to the tax on non-productive assets of legal entities, modifications are introduced to determine the circumstances that must be met in order to consider that an asset is non-productive. In turn, inactive companies that are not in a situation of dissolution and liquidation are incorporated to taxation.
- With regard to the tax on empty dwellings, a new section is added with the following wording:
4.- The taxpayers of the tax, as taxpayers, in the same terms of paragraph 1, are the natural persons who have the condition of large holders.
For the purposes of this tax, a large holder is considered to be an individual who is the holder of a right of ownership, usufruct, surface right or any other real right that grants the power to economically exploit the dwelling, of more than fifteen dwellings. - In relation to the Gaming Tax, a formal obligation to provide information by the operators of recreational and gambling machines is established.
- In relation to Personal Income Tax, with effect from January 1, 2022, some modifications are made in relation to deductions for the birth or adoption of a child, to the deduction for renting the habitual residence and finally in the application of the autonomic scale of the tax.
New deductions in IRP, foreseen in the ROYAL DECREE-LAW 19/2021, of urgent measures to promote the building rehabilitation.
On October 6, 2021, the Royal Decree-Law 19/2021 on urgent measures to promote building rehabilitation was published in the BOE (Official State Gazette), which aims to update the building stock in order to achieve climate neutrality and boost employment and activity in the post-pandemic context. Due to its interest, we inform you about its scope and temporary validity.
Three types of tax deductions are established that have their temporary incidence in the IRPF on amounts destined to the improvement of the energy efficiency of the homes of individuals, both if they are destined to the taxpayer’s habitual residence and if they are rented before December 31, 2023. They are as follows:
1.- Deduction for works for the reduction of heating and cooling demand (20% deduction):
- They must have an impact on the reduction of the heating and cooling demand of the dwelling by at least 7% of the sum of the heating and cooling demand indicators.
- A certificate of energy efficiency issued by a competent technician must be provided before the beginning and once the works have been carried out, with a maximum of two years after the work finished.
- The works must be carried out between 6/10/2021 and 31/12/2022.
- It will be deductible as a base up to a maximum of 5.000€ of the amounts paid for the works carried out between 6/10/2021 and 31/12/2022.
- It will be applied in the tax period in which the energy efficiency certificate is issued once the works have been carried out and always prior to January 1, 2023.
2.- Deduction for works for the improvement of the consumption of non-renewable primary energy (40% deduction):
- They must have an impact on the reduction of at least 30% of the non-renewable primary energy consumption indicator, or they must achieve an improvement of the energy rating of the dwelling to obtain an energy class “A” or “B”, in the same rating scale.
- A certificate of energy efficiency issued by a competent technician must be provided before the beginning and after the works have been carried out, with a maximum of two years after the work finished.
- The works must be carried out between 6/10/2021 and 31/12/2022.
- It will be deductible as a base up to a maximum of 7.500€ of the amounts paid for the works carried out between 6/10/2021 and 31/12/2022.
- It will be applied in the tax period in which the energy efficiency certificate is issued once the works have been carried out and always prior to January 1, 2023.
3.- Deduction for energy rehabilitation works (60% deduction):
- It affects dwellings owned by the taxpayer located in buildings of predominantly residential use and parking spaces and storage rooms acquired with these. It does not give right to the part of these that are affected to economic activities.
- They must have an impact on the reduction of at least 30% of the non-renewable primary energy consumption indicator, or they must achieve an improvement in the energy rating of the dwelling to obtain an energy class “A” or “B”, on the same rating scale.
- A certificate of energy efficiency issued by a competent technician must be provided before the beginning and after the works have been carried out, with a maximum of two years of the same.
- The works must be carried out between 6/10/2021 and 31/12/2023.
- It will be deductible as a base up to a maximum of 5.000€ per year of the amounts paid for the works carried out between 6/10/2021 and 31/12/2023.
- It can be applied, if possible, in each of the fiscal years 2021, 2022 and 2023, being a requirement to issue the energy efficiency certificate once the works have been carried out and always prior to January 1, 2024.
The annual base to deduct will be once the certificate has been issued in the tax period in question, on amounts paid from 6/10/2021 and until the end of the tax period in question.
If the certificate was issued in a previous tax period, the base corresponds to the amounts paid in the year.
The amounts paid in a fiscal year and not deducted because they exceed the maximum annual base of €5,000, can be deducted with the same limit, during the following four fiscal years, without in any case the accumulated base of all of them can exceed €15,000.
In the case of works carried out by a community of owners, the amount of the deductions is calculated by applying the coefficient of participation to the amounts paid by the community of owners.
4.- Common rules to all of them:
a) All the deductions are incompatible among them with respect to the same work.
b) The amounts to be paid for these purposes must be made using the usual means of payment, that is to say, credit and debit cards, bank transfer, nominative check or deposit in account in credit institutions, having to deduct the amounts that had been subsidized through a public aid program or were to be subsidized by virtue of a definitive resolution of concession of such aids. Amounts paid in legal tender will never be deductible.
c) The amounts paid must be necessary for the execution of the works and include the fees of professionals, cost of drafting technical projects, works management, cost of material execution of the works or installations, investments in equipment and materials and other expenses necessary for their development, as well as for the issuance of energy efficiency certificates. These must be issued and registered in compliance with the provisions of Royal Decree 390/2021, of June 1, which approves the procedure.
d) The amounts paid for the costs inherent to the installation or substitution of equipment using fossil fuels do not give right to deduction.
e) The aids and subsidies received by virtue of the different programs destined to energy rehabilitation in buildings, in particular, those foreseen in Royal Decree 691/2021, of August 3; in the PREE 5000 Program; in Royal Decree 737/2020, of August 4; and in Royal Decree 853/2021, of October 5, will not be integrated in the taxable base of the IRPF.
Barcelona, January 2022