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Guide to mutual agreement procedures

c.15 Do I have to submit any documentation with my request for initiation?

Yes.

According to Article 9.2 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures, requests for initiation must be accompanied by at least the following documentation:

  1. For tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2016, in cases relating to adjustments for related transactions and attribution of profits to the permanent establishment, the documentation required regarding the said transactions is regulated in Royal Decree 634/2015, of 10 July. For earlier tax periods, the documentation required is regulated in the Corporation Tax Regulation, approved by Royal Decree 1777/2004, of 30 July.

  2. Where available, copies of the tax assessment, the notice issued relating to the assessment and the reports of the inspection or equivalent bodies relating to the case. If the request is submitted in Spain, regarding an adjustment made by the AEAT in relation to transfer pricing or the attribution of profits to a permanent establishment, where the Spanish competent authority is exclusively the International Taxation Office, the AEAT already has that information and, therefore, neither that documentation nor the transfer pricing documentation need be submitted, if they were previously provided

  3. A copy of any decision or agreement issued by the authorities of the other state and which affects this procedure.

    Although it is possible to request the initiation of a mutual agreement procedure in Spain to eliminate double taxation arising from a foreign tax assessment that makes it particularly difficult for the Spanish competent authority to verify whether the request has been submitted within the time limit.

    Please bear in mind that, even though it is not mandatory, it would be very helpful to include some documentary evidence of the date on which the foreign assessment was notified.

    Otherwise, the Spanish competent authority will have to request confirmation of the notification date from the other competent authority, which may prolong the procedure.

  4. Evidence of the authority to represent the taxpayer, where they are acting through a representative.

Where the other competent authority is a country that is not Spanish-speaking, it would be a good idea to provide a copy of the request for initiation translated into English. The Spanish competent authority could send it immediately to the other competent authority, speeding up the procedure.