2.2. Net tax collection

The net tax collection is the gross revenue net of refunds paid, including adjustments with the Basque provinces and Navarre. It responds, also to a cash basis, unlike other items such as recognised rights or taxes for the purpose of National Accounting.

In the year 2013, 168,847 million euros were collected, which represents an increase of 0.2 per cent with regard to 2012 (281 million).

The 2013 results are very conditioned by the high amount of refunds carried out, which grew 15.1 per cent and compensate a great part of the increase in gross revenues. Because of that, in order to have an idea of the underlying evolution of collection we must look at the income (in homogeneous terms), which cancels the effect of the different refund calendars in 2012 and 2013, and also eliminates the impact of temporary regulatory measures (such as the Special Tax Return or the Tax of revaluation of assets). In 2013 these homogeneous incomes grew by 3.8 per cent (1.9 per cent in 2012) in the line of a stable trend throughout the year.

Total net tax collection (€ million)

The combination of increasing gross revenues and a high level of refunds has been a distinctive feature in most of the year and, especially, in the last months in which the growth of gross revenues has been pronounced. The main cause of this income has been the application of the regulatory measures that they have meant, in 2013, an increase of the income close to 11,900 million ("Adjustments for impact of regulatory changes" table), 7 per cent of the net income for the year. But, besides regulatory measures, the evolution of gross revenues also reflects the slight decrease that the taxable bases have continued to show as the year advanced.

The taxable bases of the main taxes grew in the last quarter of 2013 by more than 4 per cent, the first positive figure since the middle of 2010. The year closed with a decrease of 1.8 per cent, a figure a point above that of the previous year. It is the sixth consecutive year with decreases in the aggregate taxable bases of the main taxes; while this decrease has taken place, it is unlike 2012, when in the first semester there were decreases of around 4 per cent and a significant improvement in the last part of the year. The improved behaviour of the second half of the financial year is observed in all components: the gross income of families decreases less due to a lower loss of employment and the recovery of bonuses for public employees; profits declared by companies present positive figures from the middle of the year; and expenses subject to VAT, which started the year with a strong contraction, have recovered in the second half of the year, mainly thanks to the favourable evolution of household consumption.

The following table shows the impact of tax consolidation measures, valued at 11,897 million euro. The biggest effect corresponds to the increase of VAT rates (8,050 million). In second place is new environmental taxation, with an impact of 1,570 million. In third place, the complementary income tax that provides 1,381 million. Finally, the application of new legislation in the Special Hydrocarbons Tax adds 1,149 million more.

Adjustments for impacts of regulatory changes (millions of euros)

Personal Income Tax

As for the evolution of the income from the main taxes, in 2013, the net income from income tax decreased by 0.9 per cent. Once the effects of the different refund calendars had been corrected in 2012 and 2103, the decrease in revenue was only 0.2 per cent and has shown a clear improvement in the second part of the year (in the first semester the decrease was of 3 per cent and in the last quarter there was an increase of 3 per cent). This is the same profile for the gross incomes of families. For the whole year, the decrease in the incomes of families is around 1.3 per cent. In the first semester it was 3.1 per cent, and in the last quarter, there was an increase of 2.9 per cent, mainly thanks to three factors: the moderation in loss of employment, the recovery of bonuses for public employees and the improvement of capital gains.

 Corporation Tax

Corporation Tax fell by 7 per cent in 2013. This is the tax figure that has felt the greatest impact from the different refund calendar. In homogeneous terms, revenues decreased by four points. The new feature in 2013 is the appearance of positive figures in the revenue declared by Large Companies and tax groups in the second and third advanced tax payment. It should be remembered that the year 2012 closed with a strong decrease in results, particularly in tax groups. Part of that decrease was caused by the financial sector, which was in the midst of a process of reorganisation. Now some of those financial organisations that in 2012 had large losses have started to declare profits.

As for tax collection, the high growth of staged payments and the strong decrease in tax differentials stand out. In the first case, most of the increase is attributable to new fiscal measures (limitation on the deductiblity of depreciation expenses and change in the treatment of the losses in jointly held companies). A temporary estimation indicates that, in the absence of regulatory changes, the taxable base of Large Companies and tax groups (which grew by 28.5 per cent up to the third advanced tax payment) would experienced 22 percent less growth, and that, the payments, instead of increasing by 26.3 per cent, would have increased by about 2.5 per cent.

 Value Added Tax

The revenue from VAT grew by 2.9 per cent, which increases to 10.1 per cent when correcting for the refunds calendar. The quarterly profile of homogeneous revenue explains well the tax's trajectory in 2013, marked by the increase in rates in September 2012 and the strong contraction in expenses at the beginning of the year. Thus, the three first quarters had an intense growth in revenue as a result of the increase in rates (on average the rate increased by more than 20 per cent). In the first quarter the increase was moderate, in relation to the subsequent rhythm, due to the decrease in expenses because of the negative impact that the decrease of family income as well as the increase of the tax itself had in those months. From that minimum in the first quarter, expenses recovered and in the fourth quarter, which is already compared with a period with the new rates, the revenue moderated its growth although by less than the new rates were raised. This fact indicates a fast recovery of expenses.

 Excise Taxes

The collection of Excise Taxes increased in 2013 by 4.7 per cent, with a very unequal execution by figures. In fact, growth took place for two taxes, Hydrocarbons and Coal, affected by regulatory changes (biofuels and environmental taxation) and by management (the first includes for the first time this year the old Tax on Retail Sales of Hydrocarbons). In the absence of these and other changes (tobacco, alcohol) the results would have been a decrease in revenue. However, the bases of some taxes have improved over the course of the year. In the Tax on Hydrocarbons, for example, the consumption of gasolines and diesels has maintained a rising trend throughout the year, with some positive figures (September) and with practical stability in the last months of the year. In the Electricity Tax the improvement in consumption (with growth in the two last months) can also be noticed, even if this effect has not translated into an increase in revenue, due to the reduction of the fees in the middle of the year and in comparison with a period with high collection due to the enforcement of a sentence from the Supreme Court.