Spanish ‘real time’ reporting requirement

Among others, the obligation to file - on a “real time” basis - the data corresponding to all transactions included at the VAT books is introduced. This is referred to as the so-called, “Immediate Information System” (SII). This new filing is to be made electronically through the website of the Spanish Tax Agency. Spain had already communicated this was on the agenda but an implementation mid July 2017 was no longer expected.

The new obligation will apply as from the 1st of July 2017, but there is also a reporting obligation for transactions which occurred as from the 1st of January 2017. The information corresponding to the first half year of 2017 must be reported between July 1, 2017 and December 31, 2017.

The new reporting requirement will apply to companies filing monthly VAT returns, more precisely;

• Those considered as “large entrepreneurs” for VAT purposes (turnover in Spain over EUR 6.000.000), or
• Those applying the so called REDEME (special monthly VAT refund scheme), or
• Those belonging to VAT Groups.

The information to provide is the information that is currently included in the register books, but also additional data is required to be reported, such as the type of invoice, tax period of the transactions etc.

Filing deadline

The deadline for the filing of data will be:

• 4 working days from the date of issuance or reception of the invoice. For the period between the 1st of July 2017 and the 31st of December 2017, the maximum period is extended to 8 working days.
• 8 working days if invoices issued by client or third person.
• In any case, the information, including the register of errors, must be provided before the 16th of the following month.

On the other hand, the deadline for filing the periodic VAT returns (form 303) is extended with 10 days, so the new deadline is the 30th of the month following the tax period (last day of February for reporting period January 2017). When SII is filed there is no longer an obligation to file the VAT registers (form 340), the annual summary VAT return (form 390) and the annual statement of transactions with third parties (form 347).

Pincvision is researching the new reporting requirements and will seek for a solution to generate the required XML in case our customers (which are registered for VAT in Spain and are obliged to file the new report) are not able to generate the xml from their ERP system. Draft instructions for software developers for the generation of the XML have been issued by the Spanish tax authorities at the website http://www.agenciatributaria.es/AEAT.desarrolladores/SII.html