Company Tax

Countries considered by Spanish tax law as tax havens

Spanish tax law contains numerous anti-tax abuse provisions that discriminate against countries that are considered to be tax havens (paraisos fiscales). It has maintained a list of such countries since 1991 and the number of countries has gradually reduced over the years as countries sign tax treaties with Spain that contain an exchange of information … Read more

The New Obligation of Gibraltar Financial Institutions to Provide Automatic Exchange of Tax Information to The Spanish Tax Office

As part of the recent agreements of exchange of tax information subscribed by Gibraltar for cooperation in tax matters, the Gibraltar financial institutions will be reporting to the Spanish tax office the relevant tax information of all their account holders, including income on earnings, tax withheld and tax residency status. The first reporting will take … Read more

1.6 Million Companies fail to file annual accounts each year in Spain with no consequences

Its hard to credit this but a recent report in an online newspaper exposes the parlous state of Spain’s compliance with EU rules (and its own laws) on company accounts filings. It seems that 2/3rds of Spanish companies completely ignore the regulations and they do so evidently with complete impunity. The annual accounts, or more … Read more

Taxing a rent free commercial property

Picture the scene: with youth unemployment in Spain currently hovering around the 50 per cent mark for under 25s (source Eurostat), you decide to give your son a helping hand by letting him set up business in an empty shop you happen to own. As he is your child and you don’t need the money, … Read more

Paying Company directors what they are worth

The dubious sight of well-paid businesspeople walking away from soon to be bankrupt companies—but not before pocketing millions of Euros (in some cases hundreds of millions of Euros)—rightly raised a stink, particularly with those less fortunate employees who lost their jobs and shareholders who lost their money. It was even more unedifying when directors at … Read more