The tax amounts paid must be considered legally deductible

At this point, three circumstances must be taken into account:

1. Taxes accrued in the territory of application of the Spanish VAT (mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands), borne by direct pass-through and corresponding to taxable and non-exempt transactions, are deductible.

   Example:

   VAT borne by a businessman in a country other than Spain is not deductible in Spain as it has not accrued in the territory where the tax applies.In order to recover these contributions, the employer must apply to the tax authorities of the country in which they were paid.In the case of a Member State of the European Community, the employer must submit the form hosted for this purpose at the electronic Headquarters of the State Tax Administration Agency (electronic address:https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es).In this case, the Member State concerned will be obliged to repay the input tax in accordance with the provisions of Community legislation.In the case of a non-EU country, it will be necessary to comply with the provisions of its internal regulations.

2. Taxes may not be deducted in excess of the amount legally due.

   Example:

   A publisher sells books for 10,000 euros to a bookseller, charging him 2,100 euros of VAT (thus applying a tax rate of 21 per cent).Books should be taxed at 4 per cent according to the VAT law.

   Even if the bookseller has paid the 2,100 euros, he is only entitled to deduct 4 percent, i.e. 400 euros.This is without prejudice to the publisher's obligation to rectify the erroneous reporting.

3. Contributions cannot be deducted before they have been legally accrued (see Accruals in Chapter 4 of this Practical Handbook).