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Practical VAT manual 2023.

The tax amounts paid must be considered legally deductible

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

  1. The fees accrued in the territory of application of the VAT Spanish (Peninsula and Balearic Islands), supported by direct repercussions corresponding to taxable and non-exempt operations.

    Example:

    The VAT payments borne by a businessman in a country other than Spain are not deductible in our country because they have not been accrued in the territory of application of the tax. To recover these fees, the entrepreneur must go to the tax authorities of the country in which they were incurred. If it is a member state of the European Community, the entrepreneur must submit the form hosted for this purpose in 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 contributions incurred in accordance with the provisions contained in Community legislation. If it is a non-EU country, its internal regulations will have to be followed.

  2. The contributions cannot be deducted in an amount greater than that legally applicable.

    Example:

    A publisher sells books for 10,000 euros to a bookseller, charging him 2,100 euros. VAT (therefore, a tax rate of 21 percent applies). Books must be taxed at 4 percent, according to the VAT Law.

    Even if the bookseller has paid the 2,100 euros, he will only be entitled to deduct 4 percent, that is, 400 euros. This is without prejudice to the obligation on the part of the editor to rectify any erroneous impact made.

  3. Contributions cannot be deducted before they have been accrued in accordance with law (see the section on Accrual in Chapter 4 of this Practical Manual).