The Council of Ministers has approved, on 19 December 2023 in the first round, the Draft Law that allows the full transposition of the European Directive relating to the guarantee of a global minimum level of taxation of 15% for groups of multinational companies and groups national ones of great magnitude. This measure, which will now begin the process of public information and mandatory bodies, follows the recommendations made in the Pillar 2 of the BEPS program (initiative against tax base erosion and profit shifting) agreed by the Organization for Cooperation and Economic Development (OECD).
The approved text aims to establish a global minimum level of taxation for multinational groups or domestic groups, called large national groups, that have a net turnover equal to or greater than 750 million euros, in accordance with the consolidated financial statements of the ultimate parent entity, in at least two of the last four immediately preceding fiscal years.
According to the approved draft, Spain will apply the complementary tax, with three complementary configurations:
– The national complementary tax. Its main purpose is to guarantee that the constituent entities of the large multinational or national group located in Spanish territory, and that do not reach a minimum taxation of 15% in Spain, reach that rate through this tax. On the contrary, if the group’s tax rate was already higher than 15%, this complementary tax would not affect it.
– The primary complementary tax. The tax will be applied when the parent company of a multinational group is located in Spain and obtains income from subsidiaries located abroad that apply a tax rate of less than 15%. When that happens, the complementary tax will be activated.
– The secondary complementary tax. which is activated when some of the multinational group companies have obtained income abroad that has not been taxed at 15%. The difference between the primary tax and the secondary tax is that the secondary does not apply on the parent company, but on subsidiaries of the group located in Spain.
The Draft Law will begin the processing of the advisory bodies before being ratified again by the Government to be sent to Parliament.