3.2.2. Evolution of income for Value Added Tax

VAT collection increased 1.3% in 2017. If we were to add to that takings deferred to 2018 as a result of the Immediate Disclosure of Information (SII), growth would be 7.9%. Apart from the impact of the SII, VAT collection also benefited from the change in managing instalment payments, which represented an additional 656 million euros. Without this, the collection increase would have been 6.8%, in line with the growth expected for the final expense subject to the tax (6.5%). Growth of gross income by taxpayer type was very different (3.4% in total, 1.9% for imports and large companies and 10% for SMEs), although if the regulatory measures are corrected, which had a very uneven effect, the results were similar. The impact of the SII is focused on income from large companies, whilst the new instalment payments management system had an effect on large companies and SMEs. If both impacts are corrected, income from imports and large companies grew by 8.2%, and from SMEs, 5.6%. The difference between these rates and 6.8% of net income is explained by the growth of refunds (9.5%), both for annual refunds for 2016 paid in 2017, and for monthly refunds, whose increase in 2017 was the result of improved exports and the streamlined process for doing so as a result of the SII.