With approval of the Royal Decree 1070/2017, which took effect on January 1, 2019, all persons or entities that have intermediate properties for temporary tourism purposes, will be required to submit an informative statement quarterly. This includes also collaborative platforms like Airbnb or HomeAway. Starting in January, these platforms must file an informative declaration that contains the identification of both the landlord and tenant, address of the rented house, the time of stay and the money charged in the transaction. In order to carry out this registration, those who rent their house on Airbnb or HomeAway will be obliged to keep a copy of the identification document of the people staying in them, as it happens now in hotels. The declaration for each property for the whole of 2018 have been filed between January 1 and 31, 2019. The tax declaration for successive years will be submitted quarterly.
Which type of accommodation is affected by the new law?
The obligation to share data only refers to temporary accommodations used for tourism purposes (viviendas túristicas). No data will be shared regarding the following accommodations:
- Traditional rentals / Long-term rentals,
- Tourist accommodation regulated under its specific regulations, such as hotel establishments (hotels, aparthotels, hostels, spas, etc.), rural houses, hostels, campsites, camps, etc and
- Accommodations in a “time-sharing” regime.
What specific personal information is required to be shared with the Spanish Tax Authorities?
- Identification of the owner of the property,
- Identification of the assignor(s) (host(s), if they are not the owner of the property,
- Identification of guests (assignees),
- Property identification: complete address, including the cadastral reference, if assigned,
- Number of rental days,
- Amount received by the host,
- Start date of the reservation.
If the platform ( eg Airbnb )makes quarterly information reports to the Tax Authorities, does that mean that the host also have to make quarterly returns to the tax office?
If the host are non-resident in Spain, they must declare their income in the quarterly non-resident income tax return (IRNR). In this case, if the result of the income declaration is that you need to pay, you must submit quarterly tax returns for all the operations referring to the same property, in the period between 1 and 20 (both included) of the month following each quarter (April, July, October and January). For example, each one of the rental agreements you had in the quarter must be reported to the tax office by your fiscal representative even if the gains on that particular tenancy agreement were only 1 euro.
If the tax return of previous quarters had not been submitted, they may be submitted after the deadline before being required by the Tax Agency, in which case there will be no imposition of a penalty, but surcharges will be applied. When the result is zero or negative, it should be declared annually from January 1 to 20 of the following year.
If the tourist rental is part of a business activity, the specific regulations related to that business activity will apply. (For residents and non-residents business activities must be declared quarterly regardless if there are gains or not).
For fiscal residents, the platform has still an obligation to report quarterly to the tax office, but a host, who is not an entrepreneur and who is a resident in Spain, must only declare the income obtained in his/her annual income tax return (IRPF).
Can the Tax Authorities review the income tax returns for the last 4 years?
Yes, the Tax Authorities can review the income tax returns retrospectively for a period of 4 years from the date upon which they should have been declared. The 4-year term is counted from the last day on which the income tax return could have been submitted voluntarily. Our recommendation is to declare all the taxes before you receive a tax notification asking you for them.
What happens, if I deactivate or delete my account now on the platforms?
If you deactivate or delete your Airbnb or HomeAway account now, this will not have any effect, as the platforms are required by the new Royal Decree to report to the Spanish tax authorities all the information available in respect of hosts that received any income through the platform since January 1st, 2018.
Do you need to pay taxes and file forms even if you type of property is not affected by the new law?
Yes, in both cases for residents and non-residents.
What about if by law I need to declare the income on the rental in my country?
Even if you have to pay taxes in your place of residency, you need to declare and pay for gains obtained with the property based in Spain. There are tax agreements with most of the countries to avoid double taxation.
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