The Mixed Comission of the Economic Agreement agrees on a modification of the Economic Agreement so that the Basque taxpayers who carry out imports do not have to advance the payment of the VAT at customs.

The Mixed Comission of the Economic Agreement -CMCE- has unanimously adopted an agreement for the modification of the Economic Agreement by means of the incorporation of a new seventh additional provision that establishes the way for the taxpayers who pay taxes to the Basque Regional Treasuries and carry out imports not to have to advance the payment of the Value Added Tax (VAT) for this activity at customs, thus benefiting from the VAT deferral system and complying with the commitments agreed in the CMCE in its sessions of November 13th and December 23rd, 2024.

MODIFICATION OF THE ECONOMIC AGREEMENT

The CMCE has reached today a relevant agreement for the foral taxpayers who carry out imports.

Since the introduction in 2015 of a new management system by the State Administration (the Value Added Tax on imports is the exclusive competence of the State), taxpayers were allowed to avoid having to advance the payment of the Value Added Tax at Customs. However, taxpayers who pay taxes to the Foral Treasuries were excluded from this system, thus bearing an additional financial burden as they had to advance the money at Customs and then recover it from the Foral Treasuries.

With the agreement reached, the Basque Regional Treasuries and the Ministry of Finance are going to agree on mechanisms to facilitate the exercise of the option for the system of deferral of income provided for in Article 74. 1 of the Value Added Tax Regulations for taxpayers who do not pay their taxes in full to the State Administration, which will mean that Basque taxpayers will not have to advance payment of import Value Added Tax dues at Customs, but will be able to declare them in their ordinary returns to the Regional Treasuries, thus placing Basque taxpayers in the same competitive situation as those in the rest of the State.

Since the implementation of this agreement requires normative modifications in the regulation of the Value Added Tax on importation and the corresponding computer adaptations between the Foral Treasuries and the State Agency of Tax Administration for this matter, the Mixed Commission has agreed that the implementation of these mechanisms will operate as from January 1, 2026.

DRAFT LAW FOR THE MODIFICATION OF THE ECONOMIC AGREEMENT

The modification of the Economic Agreement agreed today is added to the ones which were also agreed by the Mixed Commission in its meetings held on November 13th and December 23rd, 2024, and all of them will be processed in the Spanish Parliament by means of a single Bill of Law on the modification of the Economic Agreement which the Government of Spain will soon approve.

All these modifications mean an extension of the financial self-government of the Basque Country and a step forward with issues such as:

• Extension of the regulatory autonomy in the Non-Resident Income Tax.
• Agreement of the new Taxes created by Law 7/2024, with full regulatory autonomy in the case of the Complementary Tax for multinationals and in the new Tax on Interest Margin and Commissions of certain financial entities.
• Extension of the competence on formal obligations and management rules in the case of 14 indirect taxes.
• Increase from 10 to 12 million euros in the volume of operations for the exclusive taxation of Basque companies in the Corporate Income Tax and Value Added Tax of Basque companies.
• Solution agreed today so that Basque taxpayers can benefit from the deferral of the payment of the Value Added Tax corresponding to their imports.

Source: Irekia.