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VAT practical manual 2021.

Goods deliveries

The following deliveries of goods, among others, are considered to have been made within the territory of application of the tax:

  1. Deliveries of goods without transport. When there is no expedition or transport and the goods are made available to the purchaser in the territory of application of the Tax.

    Example:

    Spanish company that sells products to a non-established French company, delivering them directly to the French company's customers in Spain.

    Deliveries of goods from the Spanish company to the French company are subject to Spanish VAT because the goods have been made available to the purchaser in the territorial scope of application of the tax.

  2. Deliveries of goods with transport (except intra-Community distance sales or distance sales of imported goods):

    1. General rule

      When, there being an expedition or transport, it begins in the Peninsula or the Balearic Islands.

      Example:

      Spanish company that sells products to a non-established French company, delivering them directly to the French company's customers in France.

      Deliveries of goods from the Spanish company to the French company are subject to Spanish VAT because transport began in the Peninsula or the Balearic Islands (without prejudice to the possible exemption for the goods being destined for another Member State of the European Union).

    2. Special rules

      • When the place of initiation of the dispatch or transport of the goods to be imported is located in a third country, the deliveries of the same made by the importer and, where applicable, by successive purchasers shall be deemed to have been made in the territory of application of the Tax.

      • In the case of goods subject to successive deliveries, sent or transported to another Member State directly from the first supplier to the final purchaser in the chain, the dispatch or transport shall be understood to be linked solely to the delivery of goods made to the intermediary.

      However, the dispatch or transport will be understood to be linked only to the delivery made by the intermediary when it has communicated to its supplier a tax identification number for the purposes of Value Added Tax provided by the Kingdom of Spain.

      An intermediary shall be understood to be a business or professional other than the first supplier, who issues or transports the goods directly, or through a third party in his name and on his behalf.
  3. When the goods are subject to installation or assembly, provided that the installation or assembly meets the following requirements:

    1. It must be prior to the goods being made available to the purchaser.
    2. It is completed in the Peninsula or the Balearic Islands.
    3. Involves immobilization of assets.

    Example:

    The delivery by a French company to a Spanish company of equipment that is to be installed in the territory of application of the tax before being made available, and that said installation entails the immobilization of the industrial equipment.

    This delivery of goods will be subject to Spanish VAT regardless of the cost of the installation.

  4. When it concerns real estate located in the territory.

    Example:

    The sale of a flat located in the Canary Islands owned by a company established in Madrid to another company also established in Madrid is not subject to tax.

  5. Deliveries of goods to passengers on board a ship, aircraft or train during the part of a transport carried out within the European Union, when the place of departure is in the territory of application of the tax and the place of arrival is another point in the Community.

    Example:

    Deliveries of goods made by plane on the Madrid-Paris route are subject to Spanish VAT when the transport begins in Madrid, and are not subject to the tax when it begins in Paris.

  6. Intra-Community distance sales originating in other Member States.

    Intra-Community distance sales originating in another Member State will be deemed to have been made in the territory of application of the Tax when said territory is the place of arrival of the shipment or transport to the customer.

    However, the above general rule:

    1. Intra-Community distance sales originating in another Member State and destined for the territory of application of the Tax will not be deemed to have been made in said territory when the following requirements are met simultaneously:

      • That they are carried out by a businessman or professional acting as such established solely in another Member State because he has the headquarters of his economic activity or his only permanent establishment or establishments in the Community there.

      • That the limit provided for in article 73 of the LIVA has not been exceeded nor has the option of taxation at destination provided for in said article exercised.

    2. Intra-Community distance sales, originating in another Member State and destined for the territory of application of the Tax, which have as their object goods subject to special taxes and whose recipients are the persons whose intra-Community acquisitions of goods are not subject to them under Article 14 of the LIVA, will in all cases be deemed to have been made in the territory of application of the Tax.

    3. Intra-Community distance sales, originating in another Member State and destined for the territory of application of the Tax, which have been taxed in the Member State of origin under the special regime for used goods, will be subject to tax in the Member State of origin.

  7. Intra-Community distance sales originating in the territory of application of the Tax.

    Intra-Community distance sales originating in the territory of application of the Tax will be deemed to have been made in this territory when the following requirements are met simultaneously:

    1. That they are carried out by a businessman or professional established solely in the territory of application of the Tax.

    2. That the limit provided for in article 73 of the LIVA has not been exceeded, nor has the option of taxation at destination provided for in said article exercised.

    However:

    1. Intra-Community distance sales originating in the territory of application of the Tax, which have as their object goods subject to special tax and whose recipients are the persons or entities whose intra-Community acquisitions of goods are not subject to the application in the Member State of destination of the provision equivalent to article 14 of the LIVA, will in no case be understood to have been made in the territory of application of the Tax.

    2. Intra-Community distance sales originating in the territory of application of the Tax and taxed in accordance with the special regime for used goods shall in all cases be deemed to have been made in said territory.

  8. Distance sales of imported goods.

    Depending on the Member State of import, distance sales of imported goods will be located in the territory of application of the tax:

    1. If the import takes place in another Member State, when the territory of application of the tax is the place of arrival of the shipment or transport.

    2. If the import takes place in the territory of application of the Tax, when the value added tax on said sales is declared through the special regime of Title IX, Chapter XI, Section 4 of this Law. (Import Regime).

    The Member State of import is understood to be the Member State in which the taxable event of import has occurred for VAT purposes.

  9. Deliveries through gas and electricity distribution systems or deliveries of heat or cold through heating or cooling networks, in the following cases:

    1. Those made to a reseller business, when the latter has the headquarters of its activity, a permanent establishment or, failing that, the domicile in the aforementioned territory, and are destined for said headquarters, permanent establishment or domicile.

    2. Any others, when the purchaser makes effective use or consumption of said goods in the territory of application of the tax. Such use or consumption is understood to occur in the aforementioned territory when the meter used to quantify it is located in said territory.