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Annual Report 2015

3.2.4. Evolution of income for Value Added Tax

The collection of VAT increased by 7.4% in 2015, 6.8% like-for-like. The rate of change of final expenditure subject to VAT also remained practically unchanged since the prior year, growing by 4.9%, the same as in 2014. For the first time since 2006, all components of the expense (consumer spending, property, public spending) registered positive rates.

Three elements stood out with regard to the revenues. On the one hand, the gross revenues of SMEs grew well above the rest of incomes, an indicator of the buoyancy these companies experienced throughout the fiscal year. On the other hand, changes in the management of the tax caused a redistribution between monthly gross incomes (import VAT and tax returns of large corporations, groups and exporters) and refunds, with both reducing and moving part of the tax collection, in this first year under the new system, to 2016. The third element was the decrease of the refunds paid due to the lower amount of the requests: in annual refunds (corresponding to 2014), following the trend of the last few years, and in monthly refunds as a result of the aforementioned changes in management.