The Government intends to extend the banking tax for a minimum of three years and with the possibility of making it permanent, but does not get enough support to make permanent the one that affects energy companiesparliamentary sources have advanced to La Información Económica. Both were created in 2022 and their validity ended on December 31 of this year. The portfolio headed by María Jesús Montero has negotiated until the last moment before concluding the deadline – at 6:00 p.m. this Wednesday – to present amendments to the Bill that establishes a Complementary Tax to guarantee a global minimum level of taxation for multinational groups and large national groups.
The Executive has met with the frontal rejection of Junts regarding the energy rate after the threat of Repsol with freezing ‘green’ hydrogen investments in Tarragona. The company conditioned between 2,000 and 3,000 million euros of investments in the industrial business “to the evolution of the regulatory and fiscal framework in Spain.” For its part, Cepsa –now converted to Moeve– also came out last week warning that it would delay investments in Spain to prioritize other countries. The levy has also been appealed in the courts en bloc by all the affected companies and sectoral employers.
The energy tax is levied 1.2% on the amount of the turnover of energy companies that invoiced more than 1,000 million in 2019 and at the end of last year it was extended for another year without introducing changes. The tax does not affect those incomes where the supply is at a regulated price, such as the PVPC for electricity, the last resort rate (TUR) for gas, bottled LPG and piped LPG. Repsol, Cepsa, Iberdrola, Endesa and Naturgy They paid 1,355 million euros for the tax in 2023, while this year the hit will be around 1,050 million euros after the drop in income due to lower energy prices. Along with its idea of making it fixed, as stated in its agreement with Sumar for the investiture, the Government planned to carry out a series of strategic investment deductions in order to mitigate its impact.
For their part, the PNV assures that The Basque Group has achieved agreement with regulatory capacity on taxes for multinational groups and bankingwhich will thus be regulated by the provincial treasuries. “EAJ-PNV has reached a historic agreement on the Global Minimum Tax Law that has the approval of the Basque institutions for the agreement of taxes through the Joint Concert Commission,” they say from the formation. They also emphasize that the energy tax will decline due to factors beyond the control of the Jeltzale group, which had shown its willingness to convert it into a tax and agree on said tax. Likewise, the Basque Group has presented a correction to tackle VAT fraud on hydrocarbons.
Tax on interest margin and commissions
In the case of banking, the Executive creates a tax on the interest margin and commissions of certain financial entities. This will tax the interest and commission margin obtained by credit institutions and by the branches in Spain of foreign credit institutions, in the activities they carry out in Spain. The tax rate will have a progressive character (from 1% to 6% depending on the taxable base). It will also allow the deduction of 25% of the Company’s quota and an extraordinary deduction is established in the event that they suffer a sustained decline in their profitability.
The tax will take effect for tax periods beginning on January 1, 2024 and will be paid in 2025. It will be applicable for three consecutive years starting in 2024. The measure falls like a bucket of cold water on the banks, which have repeatedly called said tax “unfair” and “discriminatory” as it affects only those entities that in 2019 recorded a turnover of more than 800 million.
In this sense, the different employers’ associations under which the sector operates, including AEB and CECA, have warned that The tax puts the affected firms at a clear competitive disadvantage. against foreign entities exempt from said payment. Thus, they estimate that its conversion from temporary to permanent will have a direct impact on the financing capacity of the real economy with a loss that may reach 50,000 million, while analysts calculate that it may have a negative effect of 14% on the capitalization of the large banks (CaixaBank, BBVA and Banco Santander).
Among the first swords in the sector The feeling begins to prevail that the tax has become the “currency” of political parties. In this sense, the CEO of Banco Santander, Héctor Grisi, already warned this Tuesday during the presentation of results that “they will do everything possible” so that it is not definitive because it harms growth. Like other bankers, he proposes the creation of a favorable scenario for investors as a recipe to increase collections. In 2024, the Tax Agency obtained income derived from the extraordinary tax on energy and banks of 2,859 million, a figure similar to that recorded in 2023, when the amount slightly exceeded 2,908 million. In none of the cases is it close to the goal of earning around 3.5 billion annually stipulated at the time of its launch in 2022.