4. Corporation Tax

Corporate tax

The IS taxes the income of companies and certain entities resident in Spanish territory. As a general rule, taxpayers must file a IS declaration, even if they have not carried out activities during the tax period or have not obtained income subject to tax, as long as their extinction has not occurred.

Entities that meet any of the following requirements are resident in Spanish territory:

That they had been constituted in accordance with Spanish laws.
That they have their registered office in Spanish territory.
That they have their effective management headquarters in Spanish territory (when the management and control of all their activities is located there).

Link to information and procedures for IS

In the Autonomous Community of Navarre and in the Historical Territories of the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country, the IS is applied according to the Economic Agreement and Economic Concert regime, respectively.

The following are taxpayers of IS legal persons (except civil companies that do not have a commercial purpose) and certain entities, even if they do not have legal personality.

This includes, among others, the following entities with their own legal personality :

Commercial companies (public limited companies, limited liability companies, collective companies, labour companies, etc.).
Civil companies with commercial purposes are taxpayers under the IS , since January 1, 2016. Civil companies engaged in agricultural, livestock, forestry, mining and professional activities that meet the requirements of Law 2/2007 on professional companies will not be taxpayers for the IS , as they are outside the commercial sphere.
State, regional, provincial and local societies.
Cooperative societies.
Sole proprietorship companies.
Agrarian transformation societies.
Associations, foundations and institutions, both public and private, and public entities.
Economic interest groupings (EIG).

They are also subject to IS ( without their own legal personality ) :

Temporary joint ventures (UTE).
Funds from: pensions, investment, venture capital, mortgage market regulation, securitization, investment guarantees and banking assets.
Communities of holders of communally owned forests.
Entities under the income attribution regime of Spanish nationality are generally not taxpayers of the IS , however, Royal Decree Law 18/2022, of October 18, which modifies art. 6.2 of the LIS establishes that these entities exceptionally in certain cases and for the following positive income will be taxpayers of the IS :
- Income obtained in Spanish territory that is subject to and exempt from taxation in the Non-Resident Income Tax.
- Foreign source income that is not subject to or exempt from taxation by a tax imposed by the country or territory of the entity or entities paying such income.

They are not taxpayers of IS and pay taxes under the income attribution regime :

Certain entities without legal personality; unclaimed inheritances, community property, etc.
Civil companies without legal personality and civil companies with legal personality but without a commercial purpose.

Civil companies engaged in agricultural, livestock, forestry, mining and professional activities that meet the requirements of Law 2/2007 on professional companies will not be taxpayers for the IS , as they are outside the commercial sphere.
Irregular companies and companies in formation.

The income obtained by the entities in the income attribution regime is attributed to the partners, heirs, community members or participants, although the obtaining of income is materially carried out by the entity itself, which is also a taxpayer for the IAE and for VAT .

Obligation to report

As a general rule, taxpayers must file a IS return, however, there are exceptions to the obligation to file.

In particular, they enjoy total exemption and are not required to declare certain public sector entities (State, CC. AA. , Local Entities and their autonomous bodies, management entities and common services of Social Security, Bank of Spain, Deposit Guarantee Funds of Credit Institutions and Investment Guarantee Funds, etc.). Total exemption means that such entities are exempt from the obligation to file a self-assessment for the IS ; compliance with accounting and registration requirements; to register in the index of entities; and bear withholding tax on the income they obtain.

Other entities are partially exempt: non-profit, charitable or public utility entities and institutions, non-governmental organizations, professional associations, business associations, official chambers, unions, political parties, etc.). Without prejudice to the regime of foundations and non-profit entities regulated by Law 49/2002 and that of political parties regulated by Organic Law 6/2002, the special regime of partial exemption is regulated by Law 27/2014, on Corporate Tax.