d.1 Withdrawal

The taxpayer may withdraw from the mutual agreement procedure at any time. There are no particular formalities required and a letter sent to the competent authority will suffice.

Article 15 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures , which applies to mutual agreement procedures initiated on the basis of a Tax treaty, or when that article is referred to, in the case of those initiated on the basis of the Arbitration Convention, states that, where there are various taxpayers, withdrawal will only affect those who have requested it.

The competent authority will subsequently regard the procedure as concluded and will dismiss the proceedings; the competent authority must inform the competent authority of the other state that the procedure has been terminated.

Article 53 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures, which applies to mutual agreement procedures initiated on the basis of the Directive, states that the person requesting the mutual agreement procedure must send a written notice of withdrawal, simultaneously, to all competent authorities of the Member States concerned. This notification will put an end to the procedure with immediate effect. The competent authority will inform the other competent authorities concerned, without delay. However, if the applicant is an individual or a small or medium enterprise (SME) in accordance with Article 57 of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures, it is sufficient for the withdrawal notice to be sent to the Spanish competent authority, which, within two months, will inform the other competent authorities concerned of the withdrawal.

The main effect of withdrawal is the termination of the mutual agreement procedure. Furthermore, a new mutual agreement procedure may not be requested regarding the same matter as the procedure from which the applicant has withdrawn. That is established in Article 11.2.d) of the Regulation on Mutual Agreement Procedures as grounds for denying the initiation of a mutual agreement procedure. It is worth remembering that whether the procedure was initiated on the basis of a Tax Treaty, the Arbitration Convention or the Directive, the applicable grounds for denying the initiation of the mutual agreement procedure are regulated in Article 11.2.