3.2.3. Evolution of income for Value Added Tax

VAT collection in 2022 amounted to 82,595 million euros, 13.9% over the figure registered in 2021. Homogeneous income (in which the different rhythms of making returns in 2021 and 2022 are also corrected) increased by 17.3% and if, in addition, the additional income lost due to the reduction in rates on electricity consumption is added and gas, growth amounts to 19.4%.

The increase in VAT revenue was very intense, partly due to the inflationary process that has lasted since mid-2021, but not only for that reason. Consumer prices between November 2021 and October 2022, which are the months included in the 2022 collection, grew by 8.4%, less than half of what homogeneous income did and even less compared to homogeneous income. corrected VAT reduction on electricity and gas.

The year was characterized by high growth rates in both gross income (20.4%) and returns made (36.7%). Revenues maintained very intense growth throughout the entire year, moderating significantly in December. That was the pattern that was also observed in monthly income (Large Companies, groups, imports and other operators assigned to the SII), which grew by 23.6% in the year. In SMEs, on the other hand, the increase was smaller, 15.2%, and with a more pronounced slowdown in the second semester (the increase was 11.6% compared to 19.3% in the first). It must be taken into account that these companies, due to their profile, were also more affected by the limitations on activity at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, so the rates for the first part of 2022 were especially high.

Regarding returns, the growth in 2022 was due to the strong increase in monthly requests (around 36%), linked to the increase in exports (close to 40%) and prices of intermediate consumption, and to the improvement in the percentage of returns made within the year of application (which explains the difference between the growth of collection and homogeneous income).