The Tax and Competitiveness Foundation’s interest in international legislative developments in taxation and their effects on the economic competitiveness of Spain and the European Union is well known. It is hard to find a matter that fits more fully the study and research purpose voluntarily established by the Foundation's trustees than State aid. The relationship between tax legislation and State aid is doubtless complex, partly because the laws have different purposes. Tax law seeks to regulate the duty to contribute towards public expenditure, while the prohibition on the grant of State ...

International work on BEPS and the related OECD Action Plan have several years of history behind them already.  The Tax and Competitiveness Foundation has also been prioritising these developments for a long time now. A trail has been left in this website through the publication of papers analysing each of the plan actions and the EU's anti-abuse directives (from September 2016 to May 2017); and the promotion of and free access to the book “Plan de acción BEPS: una reflexión obligada” (BEPS Action Plan: a necessary reflection) (published in June 2017). This new contribution from the Foun...

In the research activity carried out by the Tax and Competitiveness Foundation (Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad), it is usual for the importance of the rules comprising the tax system as well as their actual application to be emphasized. With regard to the latter, where the conduct of taxpayers and the Tax Administration acquires special relevance – both subjects involved in the application of the Tax System - the invocation of “governance” or “good governance” has emerged with growing force. The aim of this new work is to analyse, in detail, tax governance and its different implica...

Following almost 9 years of research sponsored by Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad since its formation, it was time that attention be turned to Personal Income Tax. It was therefore unsurprising that the Foundation's Plan of Action for 2019 should include a project relating to this tax. The specific project in question is based on a partial analysis - very partial one might even say - since it focuses on the treatment given to Earned Income and does so from a perspective which is intentionally biased, since not all the issues relating to this component of income are analysed. The gen...

Following eight years of research, the Board of Trustees of Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad has resolved to promote a study focused on Corporate Income Tax, there being many reasons supporting this decision. The recent comprehensive regulation of this tax by means of Law 27/2014 could be seen as a sufficient motive, but the research is also encouraged by other factors. As an example, the habitual controversies surrounding trends in tax revenue since the crisis that began in 2007-2008 and the consideration of whether or not it is sufficient for the primary tax on business activities;...

When presenting this work we should remember that, as defined in its by-laws, the Tax and Competitivity Foundation is committed to research on taxation with the ultimate aim of improving the Spanish tax system and the processes or procedures for the application of taxes. It is clearly assumed that the Spanish tax system is not only identified with the set of rules that make up the tax system, but also includes the practice of applying the different taxes that make up the system, an area in which the Courts play a fundamental role. In addition, the programme statement made by the Foundation ...

The interest that the environment and environmental protection measures are currently generating from the scientific, social and political angles is clear; focusing on the non-fiscal aim of environmental taxes, they should be looked upon as a tool designed to reduce or eradicate polluting behaviour. The key international institutions – the IMF, the OECD and the EU – take the view that the extent to which these taxes have been developed is insufficient, since the revenues they generate fall well short of the average levels of our neighbouring countries; indirect taxes of an environmental nat...

Despite the latest legislative reforms affecting the tax treatment of patronage, Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad considers this to be the appropriate time to reflect on the status of the special scheme for non-profit entities, including the provisions on sponsorship and patronage. The Foundation, after forming an “internal” work group, has invited a number of experts from varied backgrounds to take part in an open debate on matters pending in the scheme’s regulations and application, and its position from a comparative law perspective. The aim was to arrive at an informed, experienc...

There can be no denying the importance of the real estate sector for the Spanish economy. According to Sofía Borgia Sorrosal, the real estate sector in Spain has not just covered the need for housing – it has actually, for a great many years, been the driving force behind the economy. It is a sector which generates a lot of employment directly but which at the same time involves a great many related activities, and for this reason, the effects of both its growth and of any recession in it impact the economy as a whole. This view, which is broadly shared by analysts of the Spanish economy, a...

OVERVIEW The Fundación Impuestos y Competitividad is of the view that close monitoring is required of the measures proposed in the various documents published within the framework of the OECD's Action Plan on BEPS, aimed at combating so-called "Aggressive Tax Planning" (hereinafter ATP"). The Action Plan on BEPS, as we all know, is made up of 15 actions intended to address different aspects which the OECD considers important in combating Aggressive Tax Planning (ATP), which is understood to refer primarily to operations which, without being "illegal" as such, give rise to structures whic...