Skip to main content
VAT practical manual 2021.

Requirements

  1. Those businessmen or professionals who meet the following requirements can request a refund of the VAT that they have paid or that has been passed on to them in the Spanish peninsular territory or the Balearic Islands:

    1. Be a taxpayer of VAT or a similar tax in your country of residence, which must be proven in the manner indicated in the section relating to " Procedure to request a refund ".

    2. Be established in the Community, the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla or in another third territory. In the case of businessmen or professionals established in a third territory other than the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla, the existence of reciprocity of treatment in favor of businessmen or professionals established in the territory of application of the tax must be recognized by resolution of the General Director of Taxes. of the Ministry of Finance.

      However, this reciprocity will not be necessary to obtain the refund of the tax contributions paid with respect to imports of goods and acquisitions of goods and services related to:

      • the supply of templates, molds and equipment acquired or imported in the territory of application of the tax by the non-established for their provision to an entrepreneur established therein to be used in the manufacture of goods that upon completion of their manufacture are shipped or transported outside the Community to the non-established businessman.

      • access, hospitality, catering and transportation services, linked to attendance at fairs, congresses and exhibitions of a commercial or professional nature held in the territory of application of the tax.

        Nor will such reciprocity be required in the case of entrepreneurs or professionals not established in the Community who take advantage of the special regimes applicable to taxable persons who provide services to persons who do not have the status of taxable persons, who carry out distance sales of goods and certain internal deliveries of goods.

    3. Not having a permanent establishment in Spanish peninsular territory or the Balearic Islands or, if the owner of one, not having delivered goods or services from said establishment.

    4. That during the period to which the request refers they have not carried out in the territory of application any operations subject to it other than:

      • The deliveries of goods and services in which the taxpayers of the tax are the recipients of the same by investment.

      • Transportation services and their accessory services, exempt from tax under the provisions of articles 21, 23, 24 and 64 of the VAT Law .

    5. That, during the period to which the request refers, the interested parties have not been taxpayers of Spanish VAT by application of the “reversal of the taxable person” mechanism regulated in article 84.Uno.2 and 4 of the VAT Law.

  2. Persons established in a non-EU third territory must previously appoint a resident representative in the territory in charge of compliance with formal or procedural obligations, who will be jointly and severally liable in cases of improper return.

    However, entrepreneurs or professionals not established in the Community who take advantage of the special regimes applicable to taxable persons who provide services to persons who do not have the status of taxable persons, who carry out distance sales of goods and certain internal deliveries of assets, will not be required to appoint a representative before the Tax Administration.

    This obligation will not be enforceable in the case of businessmen or professionals established in the Canary Islands, Ceuta or Melilla, nor in the case of businessmen established in the European Community.

  3. In the case of businessmen or professionals established in the Community, they will have the right to request a refund to the extent that the goods or services for whose acquisition or import the tax has been borne, are used in the performance of operations that generate the right to deduct the VAT borne, both in application of the provisions of the current regulations of the State where they are established, and of the provisions of the VAT Law.

    To determine the amount to be returned, the special proration rules apply. These rules also apply to entrepreneurs or professionals established in the Canary Islands, Ceuta and Melilla.

  4. They will not be returned:

    1. The fees that have been passed on and borne unduly in the case of intra-community deliveries and deliveries destined for export, exempt from the tax in both cases.

    2. The contributions excluded from the right to deduction, as established in articles 95 and 96 of the VAT Law .