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Practical Handbook for Companies 2021

Other freedom to depreciate cases

The article 12.3 of the LIS refers in letters a) and d) to the possibility of to freely depreciate:

  • The tangible fixed assets, intangible assets and investment property of the sociedades anónimas and limitadas laborales used to carry out their activities, acquired during the first five years from the date of their classification as such.

  • The tangible or intangible fixed assets of entities that have the status of priority associative holdings in accordance with the provisions of Law 19/1995 of 4 July 1995 on the modernisation of agricultural holdings, acquired during the first five years from the date of their recognition as a priority holding.

To be taken into account:

The sixteenth additional provision of the LIS, in the wording given by the eighth final provision of Royal Decree-Law 34/2020 of 17 November, regulates a case of freedom of depreciation for investments made in the value chain of electric, sustainable or connected mobility in the industrial automotive sector, which may be made in the tax periods ending between 2 April 2020 and 30 June 2021.

For these purposes, investments in new items of tangible fixed assets involving the sensorisation and monitoring of the production chain, as well as the implementation of manufacturing systems based on modular platforms or which reduce the environmental impact, which are assigned to the automotive industrial sector, made available to the taxpayer and which enter into operation between 2 April 2020 and 30 June 2021, may be freely depreciated, provided that, during the 24 months following the date of commencement of the tax period in which the items acquired enter into operation, the total average workforce of the entity is more than

Real estate shall not be eligible for free depreciation under this provision.

The maximum amount of investment eligible for the free depreciation scheme is 500,000 euros.

In addition, for the application of this case of freedom of depreciation, taxpayers must provide a reasoned report issued by the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism to classify the taxpayer's investment as eligible.This report shall be binding for the tax administration.This measure is covered by the Temporary National Framework for State aid measures to support the economy in the context of the current outbreak of COVID-19, following European Commission Decisions SA56851(2020/N) of 2 April 2020, SA.57019 (2020/N) of 24 April 2020 and SA.58778 (2020/N) of 22 October 2020.

Important:This new case of free depreciation regulated in the sixteenth additional provision of the LIS is incompatible with the case of free depreciation established in article 102 of the LIS for small entities, so these entities will have to opt to apply one of the two tax incentives.

Filling in form 200

When the freedom of depreciation is applied or has been applied to any of the elements referred to in letters a) and d) of article 12.3 and the sixteenth additional provision of the LIS, the following adjustments should be made in the boxes [00309] and [00310] "Other cases of freedom of depreciation (art. 12.3 a) and d) and DA 16ª LIS)" on page 12 of form 200:

  • In the box [00310] of decreases, enter the excess of depreciation over the accounting depreciation relating to any of the elements or investments referred to, which is deductible for tax purposes in the tax period being reported.

  • In the box [00309] of increases, enter the amount of depreciation relating to any of the items or investments referred to, recorded in the tax period being reported and which, by application of the aforementioned tax rules, had already been deducted in previous tax periods by means of the corresponding decrease or negative adjustment to the accounting result.Likewise, in the case of , in the tax period in which it is transferred, the amount of the negative adjustments made previously and which have not yet been included positively in the tax base should be included in this box.