3.2.1. Impact of regulatory changes

The impact of the regulatory changes took on the importance of other years again (in 2014 they barely had any effect) due to the reform of direct taxation. Overall, the regulatory changes in force in 2015 reduced tax revenues by 7,846 million euros, the majority of which was the result of this reform. It is estimated that the reform of direct taxation, which began in January and was intensified with the approval of Royal Decree-Law 9/2015, had a cost for taxes collected in 2015 of 5,984 million euros, of which 4,906 million is due to the initial measures and 1,078 million relate to those that came into force in July. In Personal Income Tax, the impact of the reform is quantified at 4,813 million euros. Of this amount, 4,275 million euros comes from the reduction of the rate in tax withheld on employment income, 271 million euros is from tax withheld on capital earnings, and 267 million euros is due to the new tax credits for large families and people with disabilities. In Corporation Tax, the effect of the reform amounts to 1,089 million euros (974 million in payments by instalments and 115 million in tax withheld on capital earnings). Finally, the reform of Non-Resident Income Tax led to an 82 million euro reduction in revenues. 

We must also highlight five measures that had a significant impact on tax revenues in 2015. Three of them had a positive impact: the levy for the use of continental waters in electric power generation, approved together with other environmental taxation measures in 2012 and which was collected for the first time in 2015; the increase in the rate of some health products and in certain operations of notaries and registrars, in order to bring their treatment in line with the rest of the EU; and revenues from tax withheld arising on the partial recovery of the extra salary payment of 2012 for civil servants. The following had a negative impact on tax revenues: the change in the way import VAT is settled (the new system involves part of the revenues from imports being obtained through lower refunds; given that these refunds take at least a couple of months to be paid, some revenues were moved to 2016); and in the Corporation Tax of large corporations and groups, the dual effect of the elimination of the limit on the deductibility of depreciation and amortisation expenses, and in 2015 the beginning of the reversal of the amounts that could not be deducted in 2013 and 2014.

The principal figures are shown in the following table of the Annex: