Tax on non-productive assets of legal persons

In this article, we will deal with the Tax on non-productive assets of legal persons. In 2017, the law regulating this tax was approved, although it was never applied since it was stopped due to the unconstitutionality appeal presented by the State government.

The ruling of the constitutional court published on March 26, 2019, declared the tax within the framework of the Constitution, dismissing the appeal filed by the central government. Thus, the Decreto Ley 8/2019 of May 14, presented the necessary changes to determine the deadline for filing the tax self-assessment, except for the three years already accrued, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

What is the Tax on non-productive assets?

The purpose of this tax is the adequacy of the taxation for the possession of assets avoiding tax evasion practices because they are held under the ownership of a legal entity. The tax on non-productive assets is aimed at taxing this type of property owned by companies and entities that constitute an economic unit that is located in Catalonia, such as real estate, vehicles, pleasure boats, aircraft, objects of art or jewellery, provided they are not productive.

Public administrations and entities under public law, diplomatic representations and consular offices, and real estate of foundations, NGOs and non-profit entities shall be exempt from paying this tax, provided that they are destined exclusively to their non-profit purposes.

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How is taxed the accrual of this tax?

The tax base is constituted by the sum of the values ​​corresponding to all non-productive assets of the taxable person. The rules of valuation of these will be the following:

  • a) Real estate, for its cadastral value updated in the corresponding Budget Law.
  • b) Motor vehicles, vessels and aircraft, for their corresponding market value, without prejudice to applying the valuation tables of used vehicles for the Property Transfer Tax and Documented Legal Acts and the Inheritance Tax and donations.
  • c) Objects of art, antiques and jewellery, for their market value.
  • d) The assets are subject to financial leasing, for the value determined by the regulations applicable to leases in the Property Transfer Tax and Documented Legal Acts.
  • e) If the above rules are not applicable, the assets and rights must be valued at their corresponding market value.

The rate to be taxed will be determined by the application of the tax base at the corresponding scale, which records the taxable event at a rate ranging from 0,21% to 2,75%.

Accrual and submission periods

The Tax on non-productive assets is accrued on January 1 of each year except the year 2017, which is accrued on June 30. The tax declaration will be made through the submission of self-assessment by electronic means to the electronic website of the Catalan Tax Agency, and the deadline to do so, as well as to make the payment is between days 1 and 30 of the following June to the accrual date, except for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019, which must be submitted and paid between October 1 and November 30, 2019.

To determine the obligation to submit the self-assessment of the Tax on non-productive assets of legal persons and make the corresponding declaration and payment it is highly recommended to have the services of specialized tax advice such as GM Tax. Contact our tax advisors in Barcelona and we will tell you how to work together.

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