11.3.1.4 Application of the regime

This special regime will be applied as follows:

Its application is subject to authorization by the Ministry of Finance upon request by the taxpayer. This application must refer to all vessels operated, or for which technical and crew management is carried out, by entities of the same fiscal group, and must be accompanied by the documents listed in article 53 of the LIS .
The application must specify the tax period from which it will take effect and must be submitted prior to the start of the period.
The instruction and resolution of this procedure corresponds to the General Directorate of Taxes, which may request from the taxpayer any data, reports, background information and supporting documents that are necessary.

In order to grant the scheme, the Ministry of Finance will take into account the existence of an effective contribution to the objectives of the Community maritime transport policy, especially with regard to the technological level of the vessels that guarantees safety in navigation and the prevention of environmental pollution and the maintenance of Community employment both on board and in tasks auxiliary to maritime transport. To this end, the General Directorate of Taxes may request a prior report from the competent bodies.
Once the procedure has been initiated and before the resolution proposal is drawn up, it will be made known to the taxpayer, who has 15 days to formulate objections and present the documents and supporting documents that he considers appropriate.
The resolution ending the procedure must be reasoned and may authorise the regime of shipping entities based on tonnage, or reject the granting of said regime. This resolution must be resolved within a period of 3 months, after which it may be deemed denied.
The authorization will be granted for a period of 10 years from the date established by the authorization, and the taxpayer may request its extension for additional periods of another 10 years.
If, after the granting of an authorization, the taxpayer acquires, leases, charters or manages, in their entirety, other vessels that meet the requirements of the regime, he must submit, in the terms set out in the previous sections, a new application referring to these. The additional authorization will be granted for the period of validity remaining from the initial regime authorization.

The application of the tax regime provided for in this chapter shall be incompatible, for the same vessel, with the application of the tax incentives for the renewal of the merchant fleet regulated in the Fourth Additional Provision of the LIS.

The taxpayer may waive the application of the regime. The waiver must be submitted before the end of the tax period for which it is intended to take effect. During the five years following the previous date, a new application of the regime may not be requested.

Failure to comply with the requirements established in this regime will entail the cessation of the effects of the corresponding authorization and the loss of all tax benefits derived from it, and the full amount corresponding to the amounts that should have been paid by applying the general regime of this Tax must be paid, together with the quota for the tax period in which the non-compliance occurred, in all periods to which the authorization was applicable, without prejudice to any late payment interest, surcharges and penalties that may be applicable.

When taxpayers with vessels not registered in Spain or in another Member State of the European Union or the European Economic Area have increased the percentage of the net tonnage of said vessels with respect to the total fleet of the entity covered by the special regime, and do not meet the condition established in article 113.3 of the LIS that the average percentage of the net tonnage of vessels registered in Spain or in another Member State of the European Union with respect to the total net tonnage referring to the year prior to the time in which said increase occurs, is maintained during the period of the 3 subsequent years, this will imply the loss of the regime for those additional vessels that motivated said increase, proceeding with the regularization established in the previous paragraph that corresponds exclusively to such vessels.

When such an increase was motivated by the deregistration of vessels registered in Spain or in another Member State of the European Union, the regularization will apply to said vessels for all tax periods in which they were included in this regime.

Failure to comply with the conditions of the regime will prevent a new application from being made until a minimum of 5 years have elapsed.