Minutes of the meeting

Large Companies Forum

MINUTES OF THE PLENARY SESSION 2/2021

President of the Forum of Large Companies

President of the State Agency for Tax Administration - Secretary of State for Finance

Mrs. Ines Maria Bardon Rafael

Vice-President of the Large Companies Forum

Director General of the State Agency for Tax Administration

Mr. Jesus Gascon Catalan

Members representing the Tax Agency

Director of the Tax Management Department

Mrs. Rosa Maria Prieto del Rey

Director of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection

Mr. Javier Hurtado Puerta

Director of the Revenue Department

Mr. Guillermo Barros Gallego

Director of the Department of Aduanas and Excise Duties

Ms. Mª Pilar Jurado Borrego

Central Delegate of Large Taxpayers

Mr. Manuel Trillo Alvarez

Members representing Large Companies

ACS

Attorney at the Tax Department

Mrs. Maria Concepcion Guardiola Lafuente

AMADEUS IT GROUP SA

Vice President of the Board of Directors

Mr. Jacinto Esclapés Diaz

BANCO SANTANDER

Group Executive Vice President

Mrs. Carmen Alonso Peña

BBVA

Director of the Tax Department

Mr. Jose Maria Vallejo Chamorro

Executive

Mr. Manuel Diaz Corral

LA CAIXA

Deputy Director Tax Advisory

Mr. Juan José Lagares Gómez-Abascal

CEPSA

Fiscal Director

Mr. Alberto Martin Moreno

COFARES

Advisory Board of Directors

Mr. Luis Valdeolmos Gonzalez

EL CORTE INGLÉS

Director of the Tax Department

Mr. Luis Maria Sanchez Gonzalez

ENDESA

Head of Tax Affairs

Mrs. Maria Muñoz Viejo

FCC

Director of the Tax Department

Mr. Daniel Gómez-Olano González

GENERALI

Director of Accounting Department

Mr. Martí Jo Ruiz

IBERDROLA

Global Director of Tax

Mrs. Begoña Garcia-Rozado Gonzalez

IBERIA

Spanish Tax Lead

Mrs. Cristina Santana Negrin

INDITEX

Director of Tax Advisory

Mr. Andres Sanchez Iglesias

MERCADONA

Fiscal Director

Mr. Rafael Hilario Lopez Villanueva

MICHELIN

Fiscal Manager

Mrs. Rosa María Peña García

NATURGY

Director of Tax Planning

Mr. Baltasar Gomez Febrel

RENAULT

Director of Tax and Customs Affairs

Mr. Felix Ruiz Madarro

REPSOL

Director General of Economic and Fiscal Affairs

Luis Lopez-Tello and Diaz Aguado

SEAT

Director of Taxes

Mr. Francisco Javier Baulenas Setó

SIEMENS

Director of Taxes

Mrs. Ana María Moreda Galante

TELEFÓNICA

Fiscal Director

Mr. Angel Martin Gomez

VODAFONE

Tax Advice Director

Mr. Javier Viloria Gutierrez

Technical Secretariat of the Large Companies Forum

Technical secretary

Mr. Ignacio Fraisero Aranguren

On November 16, 2021, the twenty-third plenary session of the Large Companies Forum will be held by videoconference, with the following people attending, and in accordance with the following:

AGENDA

1. Opening of the session.
2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on June 29, 2021.
3. Results of the different working groups of the Forum.
4. Next call.
5. Other considerations, requests and questions.

1. Session opening

The session is opened by Ms. Inés María Bardón Rafael, President of the State Tax Administration Agency (hereinafter, the Tax Agency) and Secretary of State for the Treasury, in her capacity as President of the Large Business Forum, who, after greeting those attending and thanking them for their presence, points out that it is the will of the Tax Agency and the Ministry of the Treasury to continue making progress in terms of cooperative relations and in promoting voluntary compliance with tax obligations, areas for which this Forum is an important instrument of collaboration. The Tax Agency's commitment to promoting these issues is also highlighted by their inclusion as priority objectives in the organisation's Strategic Plan. On the other hand, Ms. Inés María Bardón announces that she wishes to welcome to this Forum the new head of the Technical Secretariat, Mr. Ignacio Fraisero Aranguren, who has been appointed Director of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service, replacing Ms. Rosa María Prieto del Rey, who, in turn, has taken up the position of Director of the Tax Management Department, a position previously held by Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro, to whom, on the other hand, she wishes to express her gratitude for the work carried out during these years.

The President of the Forum then comments that, if the health crisis continues to evolve favourably, it will be possible to consider holding face-to-face meetings again next year. He also apologized because he would soon have to miss the meeting due to scheduling issues.

2. Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on June 29, 2021

Ms. Inés María Bardón gives the floor to Mr. Ignacio Fraisero, Technical Secretary of the Forum, who points out that the minutes of the 22nd session of the Plenary Session of the Forum of Large Companies were sent to the members of the Forum as documentation attached to the notice of the present plenary meeting and adds that, since no observations have been received and if there were none at this time, it would be definitively approved. As no observations were made, the minutes of the plenary session of June 29, 2021 are declared definitively approved.

3. Results of the Forum's working groups

The Secretary of State then gives the floor to Mr. Jesús Gascón Catalán, Director General of the Tax Agency, so that he can introduce the people responsible for presenting the work carried out by the different working groups.

The Director General of the Tax Agency indicates that the four working groups of the Forum have continued with their usual activity during the second half of 2021 and each of them has held a meeting.

Next, he gives the floor to Ms. Rosa María Prieto del Rey, Director of the Tax Management Department, in order to comment on the activity of the working group for the Analysis and rationalization of indirect tax burdens .

Ms. Rosa María Prieto begins her presentation by pointing out that the working group held a meeting on October 21 and that the following issues were addressed during the meeting:

• In relation to the information campaign, the Deputy Director General of Tax Technology reviewed the models approved during the first half of the year:

  • DAC 6 (models 234, 235 and 236): The regulations have been transposed into domestic law and forms 234 and 235 have already been submitted. The deadline for submitting Form 236 is the last calendar quarter following the end of the calendar year in which the mechanisms were used in Spain and, although it cannot be submitted until the 4th quarter of 2022, the procedure has been published on the electronic site and simulations can be carried out.

  • Financial Transaction Tax (form 604): the regulations are published in the BOE . The deadline for filing is from the 10th to the 20th of the month following the monthly settlement period, although for self-assessments for the first four months of 2021 the deadline has been from June 10th to June 20th. The list of Spanish entities with a market capitalisation of over 1,000 million euros will be updated annually.

  • Tax on Certain Digital Services (form 490): The settlement period is quarterly and the General Directorate of Taxes has published several consultations in relation to the subjective scope of the obligation to declare.

  In addition, regarding the campaign's new features, the Deputy Director General of Tax Technology highlighted the following:

  • Form 179 (quarterly information declaration on the transfer of use of housing for tourist purposes): A new model has been approved, in accordance with the new wording of article 54 of the General Regulations for the Application of Taxes (RGAT). It came into force on June 26, 2021, and its submission deadline is the calendar month following the end of the quarter. The information will be provided in the tax data of IRPF and Corporate Tax.

  • Tax current account (CCT): A new model for requesting inclusion and communicating resignation from the tax current account system is approved. The main novelty is that this model is submitted using a form, whereas previously it had to be done through electronic registration, which represents an improvement as the information is integrated into the applications.

  • Draft order to modify the information declarations: It is currently being processed, although the modifications are basically of a technical nature. During the working group meeting, the representative of the Tax Management Department shared a presentation detailing these modifications. In addition, it was noted that the FAQs regarding Form 290 had been updated.

• Regarding the upcoming regulations in the pipeline, the following were discussed:

  • Draft Ministerial Order on forms 347, 05 and 06 and modification of the forms of presentation of form 303:

    • Model 347: Code XI is introduced for persons operating in Ireland.

    • Models 05 and 06: An additional field is included to report the tax base, which is necessary, among other reasons, to quantify the economic impact of non-subjections and exemptions.

    • Form 303: Pre-declaration will be eliminated from 2023, which affects a group that will require some assistance in filing.

  • Draft Ministerial Order on the special tax on listed real estate investment companies (SOCIMI): A 15% tax is established on undistributed profits for periods beginning on or after January 1, 2021. The self-assessment period is two months from the accrual, which will be the day of the agreement to apply the results of the year. The model will be approved in similar terms to the current model 217.

  • Virtual currencies: Informative declarations on the holding and operations with cryptocurrencies will be approved, although said approval is subject to regulatory development, which will foreseeably be processed in the coming weeks. A new obligation is also created to report this type of assets abroad.

  • Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 of March 22, 2021 (DAC 7): In 2022, the processing of the ministerial order regarding the new obligation to provide information for persons operating through digital platforms will begin, so that it will be applicable from January 2023. The information statement would be submitted in January 2024.

  • CESOP (central electronic payment information system): Payment service providers will have to submit quarterly information on B2C transactions for certain cross-border payments, which will make it possible to monitor e-commerce transactions at Community level.

• As regards support services, the new features of Pre303 were explained, highlighting assistance in census matters, both for census data at the time of access and for the period of the self-assessment to be submitted. Likewise, in reference to the portfolio of quotas to be offset, it was reported that a notice had been considered a validation notice, so that the result of the self-assessment cannot be offset if the entire result is offset with quotas to be offset from previous periods and there are pending quotas to be offset from previous periods. In addition, it was noted that two notices incorporated in October will become validations as of March 2022, so that a partial refund will not be possible and pending compensation fees cannot be applied partially. To conclude this point, the Deputy Director General of Tax Technology referred to the information available in the last self-assessment of the year, such as data on activities carried out in the year for taxpayers who do not have to submit form 390, or operations carried out in the year for taxpayers SII with access to Aggregate Books.

• The following questions arose in the “Questions and Answers” section:

  • The representative of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service reminded that in December all applications must be redirected to the new electronic site and that it was advisable for companies to make the necessary adaptations before that date. Representatives from CaixaBank and ACS commented that they found the new headquarters more intuitive and that the applications were working normally.

  • The representatives of Vodafone and Endesa indicated that lately there had been an increase in information requirements originating from SII , which represented a significant workload, to which the Deputy Director General of Tax Technique responded that these were ratifications and contrasts of information that are common during the VAT campaign and that fundamentally affect taxpayers who declare summary entries, since the Tax Agency does not It has the invoices that include those entries and, therefore, it does not have the information. However, he added that the Tax Management Department was studying how to improve the ratification service.

  • The Repsol representative referred to the complexity of corporate tax returns, especially the adjustments on page 26 and following, suggesting, as on previous occasions, a rethinking of forms 200 and 220 and also allowing for early filing. The Deputy Director General for Studies, Methods and Procedures replied that he agreed with the complexity of the models, but noted that their simplification was very costly. He added that work was still being done to improve assistance in completing the forms and that improvements in this area could possibly be reported in the near future.

Mr. Jesús Gascón then thanks Ms. Rosa María Prieto for her intervention and gives the floor to Mr. Javier Hurtado Puerta, Director of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection, so that he can comment on the main topics addressed in the working group on Analysis of tax regulations and reduction of conflicts .

Mr. Javier Hurtado points out that a meeting of the working group was held in the second half of the year, specifically on November 2, and that three topics were basically discussed:

• Principle of full regularization in the verifications: It is a complex issue that has given rise to jurisprudential assessments that are sometimes contradictory and that can still be considered a principle “under construction”. The Tax Agency complies with this principle, but assesses its application on a case-by-case basis. It is also important that companies themselves expressly invoke it during the course of the checks in order to facilitate, where appropriate, its application as soon as possible. On the other hand, the focus at the meeting was on situations affecting large companies and it was mentioned that it is difficult to provide clear solutions in all cases. Thus, the principle arose in the field of VAT , but it has evolved and is also applied to direct taxes. It consists of the fact that the tax authorities, when carrying out an audit, must attempt to regularise all the intertemporal aspects arising from it in a single act, so that there is as little harm as possible to any taxpayer. In other words, it is not enough to regularise one year while leaving open others that would have been affected by the regularisation, but it must be done in its entirety. On the other hand, there is contradictory jurisprudence from the Supreme Court (judgments of May 18 and October 15, 2020) where, on the one hand, based on the principle of good administration, the need to proceed with simultaneous verification in the matter of related-party transactions between the two affected parties is established and, on the other hand, it determines that it is necessary to wait for the finality of the liquidation of the first adjustment to proceed with the second. This jurisprudence therefore makes it difficult to apply the principle of full regularisation and, in addition, introduces a certain complexity into the verification which, in the opinion of the Tax Agency, is not certain to benefit the taxpayer, since it requires the files to be kept open for a longer period of time. Likewise, the Supreme Court, in its rulings of March 18 and July 22, 2021, has established limitations on the application of this principle, such as, for example, when it affects a tax jurisdiction other than the acting one, whether from another country or a regional administration, where it would only be possible to communicate it to the other administration, or when, based on the principle of prescription, it concludes that tax credits from prescribed years cannot be raised.

  For its part, the Iberdrola representative at the meeting asked whether it would be possible to apply the full regularisation procedure in relation to the deadlines as if it were related operations, to which the Deputy Director General of Legal Regulations and Legal Assistance replied that the scope of related operations corresponds to the same taxpayer, while full regularisation may affect several, so the scope does not coincide and the principle of treatment of related operations could not be applied by analogy.

  The Ferrovial representative also raised the question of how to proceed in the event that the temporary effects exceed the initial scope of an audit, to which the representative of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection responded that the rectification of the self-assessments for the subsequent period can be requested and the acting inspection team can be informed of said request, in order to speed up the processing of the same and make it coincide with that of the administrative liquidation.

• Tax options and application of article 119 of the General Tax Law: The representative of Iberdrola at the meeting, who had been the promoter of the inclusion of this issue on the agenda, pointed out that she had urged this debate because she considered the concept of “tax option” to be extremely vague and believed that it was important to relate this concept to the right of rectification that any taxpayer has. For his part, the Deputy Director General of Legal Organization and Legal Assistance agreed that, indeed, the concept was not clear, since the Tax Agency does not have a list similar to that approved by the regional treasuries, having to abide by what the TEAC or the courts determined. Thus, it was indicated that the doctrine of the TEAC includes as tax options the compensation of negative tax bases or deductions in quota, although it was commented that it was not a peaceful matter and that several appeals for cassation were pending resolution. It was also noted that the Supreme Court, in its ruling of October 15, 2020, had admitted the change in the criteria for the temporary allocation of income and expenses, moving from the accrual criterion to the cash criterion, considering that the tax circumstances had changed substantially after the verification and that the conduct of the taxpayer had proven not to be sanctionable. On the other hand, regarding the temporal aspect of tax options, two judgments of the High Court of Justice of the European Union were discussed, dated April 30, 2020 and October 14, 2021, in which it is established that the possibility of exercising a tax option cannot be left open indefinitely, so the emergence of tax credits clearly generated in prescribed years would not be considered admissible, unless it is due to objective and justifiable reasons. The Ferrovial representative asked what could be done in the event that deductions had not been applied due to a lack of sufficient total tax or that negative tax bases had not been offset due to a lack of sufficient positive tax base against which to apply them. The Tax Agency's representative answers that, if the entire possible amount had been applied in the initial declaration, in the event that the rate or the taxable base increased as a result of an audit, the deduction or compensation could be completed since the taxpayer's option was to apply the maximum possible amount; However, this would not apply if the initial declaration did not decide to apply the full amount possible.

• Current situation of pillar one and pillar two: The Head of the National Office of International Taxation (ONFI) reported that on October 8, the Inclusive Framework of the OECD - G20 on BEPS (base erosion and profit shifting) had reached a far-reaching agreement on the fiscal challenges resulting from the digitalisation of the economy. He added that such an agreement would have positive effects in terms of legal certainty for both the group of taxpayers and the States among which the taxation of multinationals is distributed, but that it would also affect the powers of each of the jurisdictions, so that an intense debate was still necessary in order to specify the details. The following issues were highlighted:

  • In relation to pillar one: As regards the scope of application of amount A (companies with a profitability of more than 10% and a turnover of more than 20 billion euros), an averaging system is established for its calculation. It has been agreed that the amount to be distributed among the market jurisdictions will be 25% of the portion of the group's pre-tax profit exceeding 10% of the volume of revenue. The calculation is made on a global consolidated tax base, on which, in principle, not too many adjustments will be made, although these are still to be determined and, depending on how it is finally configured, the amount to be distributed will be greater or less. To assist in the implementation of the Amount A, a multilateral instrument will be drawn up during 2022 that will commit all jurisdictions, establishing a novel early certainty mechanism through the creation of a multi-country panel, where the States that have joined will adopt global distribution decisions, both in relation to their rules and to the quantitative materialization for each of the countries, so that the Amount A is fixed in a definitive and incontrovertible way. There will also be a new, reinforced line for resolving any conflicts that may arise, and the entire system will be managed through a rather complex and elaborate formula, using a one-stop shop system that will come into force in 2023.

    As regards amount B, it was commented that this could affect more companies than amount A and consists of a standard percentage for basic marketing and distribution activities in the market jurisdiction, which would avoid the current controversies in the valuation of these activities.

  • In relation to pillar two: It will have a broader scope of application than pillar one, as it refers to multinationals with a turnover of more than 750 million euros. The minimum rate is 15% and, for developing countries, considering that they do not have multinationals based in their territories, it has been agreed that they can ensure the taxation of certain types of income by subjecting them to taxation at source when they are going to pay a rate lower than 9% at destination. Certain exceptions are also established (carve-out) que harían que la forma en que interviene el tipo mínimo del 15% sea distinta, así como una regla de minimis to not apply pillar two in certain cases. As for its implementation, it will be parallel to that of pillar one and the regulations will be developed in 2022, so that they come into force in 2023.

  The Inditex representative asked whether it would be possible to find out in more detail how pillar one would be applied, as this was causing great concern from an organisational point of view for multinationals. The Head of the National Office of International Taxation responded that the official documentation was confidential, but that, to the extent possible, without violating confidentiality rules, there would be no problem in informing the affected Spanish groups of the progress of the work.

Mr. Jesús Gascón thanks the Director of the Department of Financial and Tax Inspection for his intervention and gives the floor to Ms. Pilar Jurado Borrego, Director of the Department of Customs and Excise Taxes, who will comment on the matters discussed in the meetings of the Excise Taxes working group .

Ms. Pilar Jurado comments that the following issues were addressed at the working group meeting held on 28 October:

• Excise Tax on Electricity: It was reported that Royal Decree-Law 17/2021, of September 14, by which measures had been adopted to mitigate the impact of the price escalation in the retail electricity markets and contribute to the reduction of costs in the final electricity bill, had reduced the tax rate until December 31, 2021, from 5.11269632% to 0.5%. The consequences for filing Form 560 were also explained, which were not without a certain complexity, since the full amount resulting from applying the tax rate established in article 99.1 of the Special Tax Law (LIE) had to be compared with the amount resulting from applying the rate established in article 99.2. In addition, it was noted that other cases may arise in the event of application of the reductions in article 98 of the LIE . On the other hand, as regards the completion of the breakdown table in the new self-assessment form 560, which came into force on 1 October, the information that must be provided is expanded, allowing the data to be included in an aggregated form by exemption and not having to complete the data corresponding to the recipient persons. For their part, the companies suggested that the box corresponding to the voltage could be completed in a grouped manner for all the operations subject to the declaration, to which the Deputy Director General of Management and Intervention of Special Taxes replied that the possibility of doing so would be introduced.

• Tax on the Value of the Production of Electric Energy: It was reported that the tax was suspended during the third and fourth quarters of 2021 as established in Royal Decree-Law 17/2021, and that, consequently, the positive or negative amounts corresponding to the electricity incorporated in said quarters, for the purposes of settling the tax, should be considered to be zero euros. It was added that the measure would have effects on:

  • For taxpayers who were required to submit four split payments: in the third and fourth settlement and in the annual settlement;

  • If they had to submit a single split payment: in the liquidation thereof and in the annual.

  On the other hand, it was also mentioned that the measure would have effects when establishing the value of the 2021 production in order to determine whether a single or four-part payment should be made for the electricity incorporated in 2022.

• Tax on single-use plastic packaging: Companies raised concerns about the following issues:

  • Registration in the census of intra-Community acquirers.

  • The recording of kilograms of non-recycled plastic on the invoice.

  • Refund requests in case the packaging is sent outside the territory of application of the tax.

  The Deputy Director General for Management and Intervention of Special Taxes pointed out that the Bill on waste and contaminated soil was still being processed, so the configuration of the tax was not definitive and, consequently, an adequate response could not be given to the questions raised.

• Registry of persons who distribute hydrocarbons at retail level: It was reported that a new article 116 ter was included in the Draft Royal Decree amending the Regulations on Special Taxes, which provides that those who operate in the retail distribution of fuels and motor vehicles in facilities authorised for this purpose who, in accordance with the provisions of article 43 of Law 34/1998, of 7 October, on the Hydrocarbon Sector, are going to make supplies to other retail distributors, must register in the Registry of retail distributors of hydrocarbons. The representative of the Customs and Excise Department also highlighted the following aspects:

  • The application for registration must be made through the electronic headquarters of the Tax Agency.

  • Previous requirements: be registered in the census of entrepreneurs and professionals, be up to date with tax obligations and be registered in the Registers of the Ministry of Industry or the Autonomous Communities as a retail distributor.

  • Processing of the file: The Administration will verify the veracity of the data provided and, if appropriate, will agree to registration in the Registry.

  • Failure to comply with the requirements and conditions will result in the revocation of the registration.

  • As regards fiscal control, they will be subject to the intervention regime.

  • Possible subjection to accounting through the SILICIE system (Immediate Supply of Accounting Books for Special Taxes), if it is included in the regulatory text that is approved.

• Immediate Supply of Special Tax Accounting Books (SILICIE): At the meeting held on 28 October, the following issues were raised:

  • SILICIE Implementation: As of October 2021, almost the entire census has been incorporated; The percentage of censused establishments that have provided accounting entries in 2020-2021 is above 96% in the hydrocarbon sector, 100% in tobacco and above 90% in alcohol.

  • Queries through the help tool available on the electronic site:

    • Seat consultation service, which in turn offers two consultations:

      • Query of submitted seats: allows access to all the seats presented and the details of each one of them.

      • Aggregate seat query: provides a monthly summary of all entries submitted.

    • Stock consultation service, including:

      • Stock Inquiry on-line, which reports the stock deducted from the supplied entries.

      • Stock query at the end of the monthly period, which reports stock on the last day of the period.

  • Extension of SILICIE to all establishments required to keep accounts of products subject to Special Taxes: The extension of the system to this new group of taxpayers is a consequence of the new wording given in the Regulations on Special Taxes to the various articles that establish these accounting obligations. Examples of affected taxpayers include the following: the use of fully or partially denatured alcohol, the destruction of waste, the provisioning of aircraft and vessels, etc. Entry into force is subject to approval of the bill amending the Excise Tax Act and the bill amending its regulations, which are currently in the process of being processed. Likewise, during 2022, the prior public consultation process will begin in order to begin processing the Draft Order that develops the regulatory obligation to keep accounts through the electronic headquarters of the Tax Agency, the deadlines for which will be adapted to those of the regulatory process.

To conclude her presentation, Ms. Pilar Jurado said that in response to a question from the companies, the representative of the Customs Department outlined the general lines of the new organization of the Regional Customs and Excise Departments and pointed out that there could be some changes in the staff that usually carried out the supervisory functions in the establishments.

Mr. Jesús Gascón thanks Ms. Pilar Jurado for her intervention and gives the floor to Mr. Manuel Trillo Álvarez, Central Delegate of Large Taxpayers, in order to comment on the activity of the Cooperative Relations working group .

The Central Delegate begins his speech by reporting on the appointment of Joan Cano García as Deputy Central Delegate of the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers in Barcelona, who had previously held important positions in the Tax Agency.

Mr. Manuel Trillo then begins his presentation of the issues discussed at the meeting of the Cooperative Relations working group, which took place on November 11:

1. Implementation of new taxes: It was mentioned at the meeting that the Tax Agency already had information from which some first impressions could be drawn:

   1. Regarding the Financial Transaction Tax, it was noted that the majority of taxpayers (370 on average) were non-residents (around 300), which confirmed the importance of the volume of foreign investment in Spain. Thus, it was indicated that, as they were non-residents, the majority were not assigned to the Central Delegation of Large Taxpayers, but to the Special Delegation of Madrid, although they were spread throughout the country, depending on the place of assignment of the person to whom they had granted their representation. It was also reported that revenue collection remained stable at around 30 million euros per month. It was commented that the preponderance of exempt transactions over taxable transactions had attracted extraordinary attention and was being reviewed, especially in the case of certain non-resident taxpayers. Finally, it was added that the sampling carried out with several Spanish financial institutions showed that the management of the tax was reasonably good.

   2. Regarding the Tax on Certain Digital Services, it was said that it would take more time to draw conclusions, not only because of its novelty but also because of the complexity of the digital world. However, initial impressions showed that this tax was also dominated by non-residents, mainly subsidiaries of US multinationals. It was also noted that revenue was growing, reaching around 60 million euros per quarter, and, in terms of taxable events, 80% corresponded to online advertising activities and 18 or 19% to intermediation activities. Data transmission operations, on the other hand, had a very low impact on either tax returns or tax collection, a fact that was being analysed and investigated by the Tax Agency. It was stated that the revenue collected was below the forecasts made at the time, although it should be noted that these were based on a different tax than the one finally approved. On the other hand, it was commented that the payments made for this tax would become payments on account, to the extent that pillar one was implemented under the terms agreed by the G20.

   Finally, in relation to this point, companies expressed their concern about how the Financial Transaction Tax could affect the capitalisation of Spanish companies, to which the Tax Agency replied that, as it is such a low rate, the expected impact was negligible, but that, nevertheless, it would be necessary to keep an eye on its evolution. In addition, some companies commented that the tax settlement mechanism was cumbersome in some specific situations, such as the delivery of shares to employees.

2. Publication on the Tax Agency's website of the list of entities submitting the transparency report: At the meeting it was highlighted that for the Tax Administration, transparency reports were an essential instrument of the cooperative relationship, underlining the importance of publicising this fact on the Tax Agency's electronic headquarters, which, on the other hand, was also relevant in terms of reputation for the presenting entities. Furthermore, it was pointed out that among the commitments acquired by Spain with the European Commission linked to the receipt of recovery funds was that of maintaining the level of transparency reporting, so the publication of the list of reporting entities would allow the Commission to monitor this indicator. It was added that the list for the 2019 financial year was scheduled to be published shortly, but that it would continue and the 2020 list would be published in 2022.

3. Conclusions from the data of the CbCR (Country by Country Report): The development of this point of the agenda was carried out by the Director of the Tax Studies and Statistics Service, who pointed out that the information derived from a legal obligation and subject to a validation process for its consignment guaranteed an incomparable quality for the preparation of studies and statistics compared to other sources of information, favoring the use of said studies as instruments for monitoring collection, calculating forecasts, the teaching field or decision-making in tax policy, in addition to also fulfilling an important social function in terms of accountability and as an element of transparency. In this regard, he indicated that in 2021 two key statistics had been produced in relation to Corporate Tax: the consolidated annual accounts and the statistical exploitation of model 231. Regarding the first, the Director of the Tax Studies and Statistics Service commented that its preparation had been very laborious since not all the information had been available until recently. Regarding the statement CbC He noted that this was the third year that this study had been carried out and highlighted the following issues:

   • In the 2018 financial year study, the information is much more extensive than in previous editions, collecting by jurisdiction all types of data in relation to turnover, subsidiaries, taxes accrued and paid, capital assets, etc., allowing to evaluate the differential behavior of Spain compared to other jurisdictions.

   • The statistics refer to 122 multinationals with Spanish headquarters with a turnover of more than 750 million euros.

   • The following data can be extracted:

     • The declared effective global rate is 18.3% and 16.9% for Spain, which is four points less than what the same group paid in non-EU countries (20.9%).

     • The statistics again show a wide dispersion of effective rates on profits with very low or very high rates, although there is a central group with rates between 12 and 18%, this being the normal behaviour in terms of profit.

   • The main difference between this study and the consolidated annual accounts study, which it complements, is that the former refers to net profits by jurisdiction, i.e. discounting the losses of subsidiaries, while the latter refers to the group's gross profit, in line with the philosophy of the tax that only taxes positive results.

   For their part, the companies expressed their dissatisfaction with the title of the press release published on the website, to which the Tax Agency's representatives replied that, indeed, the title did not contain any nuances, but that, nevertheless, the complete study could be consulted, as it was also published, as well as the methodology used in its preparation.

   To conclude this point, Mr. Manuel Trillo points out that the data provided by multinationals in this information model will be a fundamental support point for the implementation of pillars one and two, while constituting an important instrument for the exchange of information between States.

4. Analysis of corporate tax contribution data and corporate tax transparency: At the previous plenary session of this Forum, its President pointed out that transparency was a general demand of the citizens and proposed that the entities present their lines of action and expectations, just as the Tax Agency was doing by publishing not only its results, but also submitting to demanding evaluation mechanisms that would allow it to detect the aspects that could be improved. Thus, at the working group meeting, the companies proposed to present their own study on the overall contribution of the companies participating in the Forum, not only in relation to Corporate Tax, but also on other tax figures. The Tax Agency stated that it agreed with the proposal and that it was aware of some publications that used this methodology. It was added that the collaboration of large companies was essential for the tax system due to their participation in the management of various taxes, such as withholdings of Personal Income Tax or the collection of VAT , but that, however, regardless of whether one agreed or not with the methodology used, the difference between taxes paid and taxes managed, for the Tax Agency, was very clear.

5. Inclusion of the “Cooperative Relationship” in training: It was mentioned that the Institute of Fiscal Studies in coordination with the Tax Agency was preparing for the inclusion of this subject for the new staff of the next call for the Higher Corps of State Tax Inspectors, probably in the format of a round table, in which representatives of both the Administration and the business sector would participate, in order to convey to the students the different points of view. It was also noted that there was no problem in including the “cooperative relationship” in the internal and ongoing training programmes for the Tax Agency staff, since promoting it was a commitment established in the organisation's Strategic Plan. It was pointed out that holding workshops would be interesting, especially if company representatives also participated.

6. Finally, the Director of the Internal Audit Service reported on the creation of the Ethics Advisory Committee, in compliance with the commitment set out in the Strategic Plan of the Tax Agency. He pointed out that the Commission had an advisory and consultative nature and that it was made up of its president (the person in charge of the Directorate of the Tax Agency), its secretary, three institutional members (holders of the Directorate of the Internal Audit Service, the Human Resources Department and the Legal Service of the Tax Agency) and three independent members who would be selected from among professionals of recognised prestige or people who had held management positions in the Tax Administration.

Next, Mr. Jesús Gascón thanks Mr. Manuel Trillo for his intervention and offers the floor to those present in case they wish to make any comments in relation to the working groups.

Firstly, Mr. Jacinto Esclapés Díaz, representative of AMADEUS IT GROUP, spoke. After thanking the Tax Agency for the presentation, he commented that it had been agreed that the summaries of the working group meetings would be distributed among the entities represented at the Forum and that he was not aware of having received them this semester. He adds that having the summaries available allows us to know before the plenary session what was discussed in the meetings, especially in the working groups in which we do not participate, which contributes to making the plenary sessions more dynamic, reducing the time spent on these explanations and encouraging us to go into some aspects in depth and clarify certain issues. On the other hand, he raises two questions to the Central Delegate: Firstly, in relation to the publicity of the entities presenting the transparency reports, he comments that he assumes that this will be at a statistical level and not in terms of publicity of the documents; Secondly, in relation to the implementation of pillar one, the question is whether, for companies with a turnover of less than 20 billion euros, the amount paid for the Tax on Certain Digital Services will be a definitive payment.

Mr. Manuel Trillo replied that, indeed, the content of the transparency reports is scrupulously subject to the duty of confidentiality and that publicity will be limited to disclosing the names of those entities that present it. On the other hand, in relation to the second question, he comments that at this time the only information available is that already set out in the G20 agreements, that is, that the tax will be considered as a payment on account for the affected entities, with no further data available as to how pillar one will be structured.

Ms Rosa María Prieto then intervened to point out that, with regard to the summaries of the working groups, although on previous occasions they had been sent to the collaborator of the Technical Secretariat so that they could distribute them among the companies in order to agree on a summary that could be incorporated, at least in part, into the minutes of the plenary sessions, on this occasion, due to the proximity of the meetings of the working groups, it had not been possible. He also noted that this practice had been adopted to make the plenary sessions more active and with greater participation from companies, but that it had not worked and companies had hardly intervened. The Director of the Tax Management Department indicates that, although she is no longer responsible for this, in her opinion it is a good model, but that, for its effective operation, a commitment to propose content for plenary sessions is necessary.

The Director General of the Tax Agency then took the floor to comment that, although on previous occasions it has not worked as well as would be desirable, he agrees that it would be positive to advance in this practice and to extract from the activity of the working groups those topics that, due to their interest, should be dealt with in greater detail in the plenary sessions or, even, especially if the President of the Tax Agency attends, to include in the agenda of the plenary sessions those other matters that the Forum considers pertinent. It also proposes that, in order to allow time to prepare the summaries, group meetings be held at least fifteen days before the plenary sessions are held. On the other hand, Mr. Jesús Gascón points out that, as regards the Tax on Certain Digital Services, it will be necessary to see how pillar one is implemented.

Next, Ms. Begoña García-Rozado González, representative of IBERDROLA and collaborator of the Technical Secretariat of the Forum, spoke. She said that she will coordinate with Mr. Ignacio Fraisero in order to organize the work of the following plenary sessions, since she considers that, indeed, the attendance of the Secretary of State for Finance should be better utilized. On the other hand, he asked whether the list of entities submitting the transparency report had already been published.

Mr. Jesús Gascón answers that it has not yet been published because they are analyzing whether to publish the relationship corresponding to 2020 in relation to the 2019 financial year or wait to have the 2021 relationship to publish it in relation to 2020. He reiterated that only the list of presenting entities will be publicised and indicated that this will be done in the coming weeks.

4. Next call

The Director General states that the intention is to maintain the semi-annual frequency of the meetings and that, if health conditions allow, it is desirable that the next one be in person. In this regard, he points out that the Tax Agency is strictly respecting the limits established in the internal regulations for the prevention of occupational risks. However, he indicates that the Ministry is looking for a room that allows the necessary capacity for the plenary session, since personal contact is considered to be an essential element that contributes to greater dynamism in the development of meetings, which, for their part, telematic means, subject to greater rigidity, cannot match. He also reiterated that an attempt will be made to bring forward the meetings of the working groups.

5. Other considerations, requests and questions

Firstly, the Director General of the Tax Agency announces that, as a result of the merger of Bankia and CaixaBank, the number of companies represented at the Forum has decreased, so it has been decided that Banco Sabadell will fill the vacancy. He added that the entity had requested to join the Forum and that the main reason for the decision was the fact that it also belongs to the financial sector. He noted that 27 companies were once again represented at the Forum.

Next, Mr. Jesús Gascón opens a new round of interventions and, since none are made, he informs for general knowledge that the tax administration, in compliance with the commitments assumed by the Government of Spain in Component 27 of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, plans to carry out a provisional evaluation of the application of Law 11/2021, on measures to prevent and combat tax fraud, in the 4th quarter of 2022 and another, with greater depth, in the last quarter of 2023, in which, in view of the results, it will be proposed to maintain the measures included in the Law, modify them or eliminate them. He adds that in the European Union the evaluation of the application of regulations is a common practice, although in Spain it has not been considered a priority until fairly recently. Mr. Jesús Gascón points out that cooperation forums can play a key role in a more active participation in regulatory proposals and asks those attending to collaborate in the preparation of the aforementioned evaluations, forwarding their observations and reflections on this matter to the Tax Agency. In the same vein, Mr. Jesús Gascón reports that the Administration is already working on preparing the next Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union in the second half of 2023. He adds that in the coming months the presidency will be assumed by France, which will surely give an important boost to regulatory harmonisation and to the projects in process, but that, given that in the Community sphere the production of regulations has increased significantly, the Spanish presidency will find itself with many files in process. He also points out that the Spanish presidency will be a "closing-cycle presidency", as it will be the last one before the elections to the European Parliament, and it will have a certain capacity to decide on the projects to be promoted. Thus, Mr. Jesús Gascón proposes that in one of the Forum's working groups or in a meeting called ad hoc In order to deal only with the European issue, companies should communicate their priorities or points of view on the files to be promoted. He added that contacts will soon be initiated with the European Commission and the other States in order to develop the work agenda and that it would be useful to have the opinion of companies when defining Spanish priorities. On the other hand, the Director General of the Tax Agency reports that the President of the National Institute of Statistics (INE) has proposed the organization of a meeting regarding the surveys with the entities of the Forum, in order to find formulas so that the growing flow of information that reaches the Tax Agency serves to eliminate other types of obligations and thus simplify the workload that this entails for companies. Mr. Jesús Gascón points out that it is not easy to integrate the information needs of the INE into the tax return models, but that some points of simplification could surely be found. He added that, if the content of this meeting is finalised, the companies represented at the Forum will be convened in order to begin developing an approach to information obligations from a point of view not only tax-related, but more general and global, which will favour a rationalisation of indirect charges. In another order of things, the Director General of the Tax Agency comments that, likewise, during 2022 it will be necessary to keep an eye on the development and specification of the work related to pillars one and two, since it is expected that they will involve important changes in the design of some of the figures of the tax system and of the formal obligations. Finally, Mr. Jesús Gascón comments that, although the Secretary of State has already done so, he wishes to thank Mr. Gonzalo García de Castro for the work carried out and the enthusiasm dedicated to it during these years. She also thanks Ms. Rosa María Prieto for her work as head of the Planning and Institutional Relations Service and as Technical Secretary of this Forum, as well as, and prior to that, the work she will undoubtedly carry out as Director of the Tax Management Department. He also welcomed Mr. Ignacio Fraisero in his new responsibilities and hoped that they would be as fruitful as those of his predecessor.

Finally, the Director General of the Tax Agency thanked those attending for their presence and closed the twenty-third plenary session of the Large Business Forum, saying goodbye until the next meeting.