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Practical Guide to Income Tax 2025. Part 1.

b) Requirements for the application of the deduction

Regulations: Art. 27, sections 3 to 14 and eighth transitional provision Law 19/1994, of July 6, amending the Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands

To apply this deduction, the following requirements must be met:

  • That the taxpayer determines the net income from its economic activity in accordance with the direct estimation method and that said income comes from activities carried out through establishments located in the Canary Islands.

  • That the reserve for Investments is accounted for separately , and that it is not used as long as the assets in which it has been materialized must remain in the company.

  • That the amounts allocated to said reserve materialize within a maximum period of three years , counted from the date of accrual of the tax corresponding to the year in which it was provided. This implies an effective period of 4 years, that is, the period in which the RIC and the deduction is applied to the full tax liability, and the 3 subsequent ones.

    When dealing with amounts intended for investments in assets related to the housing rental activity referred to in the Fifteenth Additional Provision of Law 19/1994, the maximum materialization period must be respected in any case.

    Please note that as a result of the health crisis caused by Covid-19, the deadlines for realizing the investment and providing the reserve materialized in advance have been suspended, from March 14 to May 30, 2020. This suspension affects the realization of reserves allocated with profits obtained in the 2019 and 2020 financial years.

  • That said materialization takes place in the realization of any of the investments detailed in article 27.4 of Law 19/1994 ( BOE of July 30).

    The investments detailed in article 27.4 of Law 19/1994 are examined in its specific section " Investments where the amounts allocated to RIC must be materialized" of this Chapter.

  • That the assets in which the investment is materialized are located or received in the Canary Islands, that they are used therein, that they are affected by and are necessary for the development of the economic activities of the taxpayer, except in the case of those that contribute to the improvement and protection of the Canary Islands environment. Investments detailed in article 27.4 of Law 19/1994.

    Article 27.5 of Law 19/1994 determines for this purpose which elements will be understood to be located and used in the archipelago.

  • That the assets in which the reserve for related investments in letters A and C of article 27.4 of Law 19/1994 has been materialized, as well as those acquired by virtue of the provisions of letter D of the aforementioned paragraph 4 of article 27, remain in operation in the same taxpayer's company for at least five years, without being subject to transfer, lease or assignment to third parties for their use. When its permanence is less than said period, this requirement will not be considered breached when another asset is acquired to replace it at its net book value, prior to or within 6 months of its removal from the balance sheet, which meets the requirements for the application of the deduction and which remains in operation for the time necessary to complete said period. In the case of land acquisition, the period will be ten years.

    Taxpayers engaged in the economic activity of leasing or transferring fixed assets to third parties for their use may benefit from the investment reserve, provided that there is no direct or indirect link with the lessees or assignees of said assets, in the terms defined in article 18.2 of the LIS , nor are they financial leasing operations.

    In the case of leases of real estate, in addition to the conditions provided for in the previous paragraph, the requirements established in the fourth paragraph of section 8 of article 27 of the aforementioned Law 19/1994, of July 6, must be met.except when the Fifteenth Additional Provision applies. Regarding these requirements, the case of the rental of rehabilitated protected housing to persons registered in the Public Registry of Applicants for Protected Housing of the Canary Islands is included.

    In the case of rental activities of protected housing carried out by the promoting entity thereof, the housing must be subject to rental for at least five uninterrupted years.

    For these purposes, the transfer will not be considered interrupted when a new lease of the same dwelling is carried out within six months of its vacancy, without prejudice to the extension of the initial period of allocation for a period equivalent to that of the vacancy.

    For the purposes of calculating the maintenance period, it should be taken into account that, for the investments of article 27.4. A) and C), materialization will be deemed to have occurred, even in cases of acquisition through financial leasing, at the time when the assets come into operation. In both the case of materializations through the subscription of shares or participations and in the case of the subscription of financial instruments, the investment is considered to have been made when the issuing entity puts the acquired assets into operation.

Note: the sole article.One of Royal Decree-Law 15/2014, of December 19, modifying the Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands ( BOE of December 20) repealed section 10 of article 27 of Law 19/1994 , so it is no longer necessary for the taxpayer to submit electronically the investment plan within the tax declaration deadlines in which the deduction corresponding to the reserve for investments in the Canary Islands is practiced and through the form that appeared on the page of the State Tax Administration Agency on the Internet.

Non-compliance with requirements

Regulations: Art. 27.16 Law 19/1994, of July 6, amending the Economic and Fiscal Regime of the Canary Islands

The provision of the investment reserve prior to the end of the investment maintenance period or for investments other than those provided for in section 4 of this article, as well as the failure to comply with any other requirements established in this article, except the requirement for its separate accounting and the information on the RIC that must be included in the annual accounts report, will result in the taxpayer proceeding to integrate, in the personal income tax base for the year in which these circumstances occurred, the amounts that at the time gave rise to the reduction of the former or the deduction of the latter, without prejudice to any applicable penalties.

In the event of non-compliance with the obligation to exercise the purchase option provided for in financial leasing contracts, the integration into the tax base will take place in the year in which it was contractually provided that this should have been exercised.

Late payment interest will be settled in accordance with the terms set out in Law 58/2003 and its implementing regulations.

The same consequences will apply to non-compliance with the six-month period for the effective commencement of the housing lease referred to in the Fifteenth Additional Provision of Law 19/1994.

See section 10 of the aforementioned Fifteenth Additional Provision.