Skip to main content
Practical Income Manual 2020.

a. Rents and charges

In general

Included in this heading are the expenses incurred in the form of rentals, fees, technical assistance, etc., for the transfer to the taxpayer of assets or rights that are related to the activity, when ownership thereof is not acquired. 

The concept of “royalties” will include fixed or variable amounts that are paid for the right to use or to grant use of the different manifestations of industrial property.

For the concept of “lease” , the amounts paid for the rental or operating lease or for the transfer of movable and immovable property for the use or at the disposal of the company.

Special cases

Without prejudice to the above, the specialties discussed in the following sections must be taken into account for the purposes of determining the deductible amounts for this concept.

1. Financial leasing contracts

Regulations: Art. 106 LIS

A specific tax regime is established for financial leasing contracts in which the following requirements are met:

  • That the lessor is a credit institution or a credit financial establishment. 
  • That they have a minimum duration of 2 years when they concern movable property and 10 years when they concern real estate or industrial establishments.

    However, by regulation, to avoid abusive practices, other minimum duration periods may be established depending on the characteristics of the different goods that may constitute its object.

  • That the financial leasing installments appear expressed in the respective contracts, differentiating the part that corresponds to the recovery of the cost of the asset by the leasing entity, excluding the value of the purchase option and the financial burden required by it, all without prejudice to the application of the corresponding indirect tax.
  • That the annual amount of the part of the financial leasing installments corresponding to the recovery of the cost of the asset must remain the same or increase throughout the contractual period.

Concept of financial leasing contracts: With effect from June 28, 2014, Law 10/2014, of June 26, on the organization, supervision and solvency of credit institutions ( BOE of 27) defines in its Third Additional Provision the concept of financial leasing operations as "those contracts whose exclusive purpose is the transfer of the use of movable or immovable property, acquired for said purpose according to the specifications of the future user, in exchange for a consideration consisting of the periodic payment of quotas. The assets to be transferred must be affected by the user only to their agricultural, fishing, industrial, commercial, artisanal, service or professional holdings. The financial leasing contract will necessarily include a purchase option, at its end, in favor of the user.

Once these requirements are met, your tax deductibility regime is as follows:

a. The entire portion of the installments corresponding to the financial burden paid to the leasing entity is considered a tax-deductible expense.

b. The part of the financial lease payments paid to the leasing entity that corresponds to the recovery of the cost of the asset is considered a deductible expense with the following two limitations:

  1. The deductible amount may not be higher than the result of applying to the cost of the asset twice the maximum linear depreciation coefficient according to the officially approved depreciation tables. 

    In the case of taxpayers (businessmen or professionals) who have the tax consideration of small company , the linear amortization coefficient according to tables will be multiplied by three for these purposes.

    The table of amortization coefficients applicable in the normal modality of the direct estimation method is contained in article 12.1.a) LIS. In the simplified modality of the aforementioned regime, the applicable amortization table is contained in the Order of March 27, 1998 ( BOE of 28).

    To calculate the aforementioned limit, the moment when the property is put into operating condition will be taken into account. The excesses that, as a result of this limitation, are not deductible may be deducted in subsequent tax periods, with the same double or triple limit of the amortization coefficient indicated above.

  2. In the event that the object of the contract is land, plots and other non-amortizable assets, this part of the fee does not constitute a deductible expense. In the event that such a condition exists only in a part of the asset that is the object of the operation, only the proportion that corresponds to the elements susceptible to amortization may be deducted, which must be expressed differently in the respective contract.

Example:

Don STV carries out the activity of footwear manufacturing and determines the net income of said activity by the direct estimation method, normal modality.

On June 30, 2020, you acquire a new delivery van under a financial lease ("leasing") under the following conditions:

  • Contract period: 2 years.
  • Annual fees: 8,000 euros, of which 600 euros represent the financial burden and the rest corresponds to the recovery of the cost of the good.
  • Purchase option: 1,200 euros at the end of the second year.
  • Item cost: 16,000 euros.

Determine the amounts that STV donate may deduct in the year the payments paid for the financial lease contract made, knowing that the linear amortization coefficient according to the tables of the van is 16 percent, that the van was made available and came into operation on July 1, 2020 and that the economic activity of which it is the owner is considered a small company in 2020.

Solution:

As the economic activity carried out has the tax consideration of a small company in fiscal year 2020, the owner may deduct the following tax-deductible expenses from their full income:

Financial burden (600/12 months) x 6 months = 300

Recovery of the cost of the good (deductible paid amount) [(8,000 /12 months) x 6 months] - 300 = 3,700

Total deductible expenses (300 + 3,700) = 4,000

Note: The amount paid corresponding to the recovery of the cost of the good is in its entirety considered a deductible expense, as it does not exceed the legally established limits. The determination of said limit is carried out in the following way:

Maximum applicable linear coefficient according to tables: 16%

Maximum linear coefficient applicable in 2020: (16 x 3) = 48%

Maximum tax depreciation amount: (48% s/16,000) x 6/12 = 3,840

2. Specialties in the IRPF of the transfers to the economic activity of assets and rights belonging exclusively to members of the family unit

Regulations: Art. 30.2.3 Law Personal Income Tax

When the spouse or minor children of the taxpayer who live with him make transfers of assets or rights that serve the purpose of the economic activity in question, the owner of said activity may deduct, to determine the income of the same , the consideration stipulated for said transfer, provided that it does not exceed the market value and, in the absence of the former, the latter may be deducted.

Correlatively, the stipulated consideration, or the market value, will be considered a return on the capital of the spouse or minor children for all tax purposes.

Note: The use of assets common to both spouses by the spouse who carries out an economic activity is not considered a transfer for tax purposes nor does it generate any remuneration between them.