Catholic Church and other churches, denominations and religious communities
Within this section of entities partially exempt from article 9.2 of the LIS , we make special mention of the Catholic Church and other churches, denominations and religious communities.
According to the provisions of the ninth Additional Provision of Law 49/2002, the Catholic Church and other churches, confessions and religious communities , which have signed cooperation agreements with the Spanish State, may apply the tax regime for non-profit entities regulated in Title II of said Law.
For these purposes, the Sole Additional Provision of Royal Decree 1270/2003 establishes that these ecclesiastical entities may opt for the regime of non-profit entities of Title II of Law 49/2002. This option can be exercised either through the census declaration or tacitly through the corporate tax declaration.
Things to keep in mind :
To opt to apply the special regime of Law 49/2002 through the Corporate Tax return you must check the box [00001] "Non-profit entity covered by tax regime Title II of Law 49/2002" on page 1 of form 200.
Ecclesiastical entities that apply the special regime of Law 49/2002 have the status of partially exempt entities from article 9.2 of the LIS , so they have the obligation to declare all of their income, exempt and non-exempt .
In cases where ecclesiastical entities do not choose apply the tax regime established in Title II of Law 49/2002, they will apply the regime of partially exempt entities of article 9.3 of the LIS regulated in Chapter of Title of the LIS, being obliged to declare all of their income, exempt and non-exempt, except when they meet the requirements of article 124.3 of the LIS, in which case they are not obliged to declare.
Things to keep in mind :
In the event that ecclesiastical entities apply the regime for partially exempt entities of article 9.3 of the LIS , they must mark the box [00002] "Partially exempt entity" on page 1 of form 200, instead of box [00001] "Non-profit entity covered by the tax regime Title II of Law 49/2002".
Finally, in relation to the obligation to declare , ecclesiastical entities have the possibility of previously requesting from the Ministry of Finance the recognition as taxpayers of the Corporate Tax for entities with a broader scope than that of their legal personality. In this way, once recognized, all obligations relating to the tax will fall on the taxpayer with the broadest scope (normally, diocese or religious province), and will include those corresponding to the activities and income of the lower entities that depend on that taxpayer.
Remember :
ecclesiastical entities that have obtained, upon request, recognition as a taxpayer of Corporate Tax with a scope broader than that of their legal personality (normally, dioceses or religious provinces), must mark box [00078] « Diocese, religious province or ecclesiastical entity that includes smaller entities dependent on them» on page 1 of form 200.
In addition, entities that have checked box [00078], must complete section "C) Minor entities dependent on a diocese, religious province or ecclesiastical entity included in the declaration, previously authorized" on page 2 of form 200 (see Chapter 3 of this Manual), stating the tax identification number (NIF) and the name or company name of each of the minor entities that depend on them.