Collaborative platforms & tourist websites under tax control in Spain

On 24th May 2018, model 179 on “Quarterly informative declaration of the assignment of use of housing for tourist purposes”  was approved. It is another controversial information obligation which is now being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Despite the information obligation being quarterly, the Treasury agreed, exceptionally, that  incomes obtained in 2018 could be declared between the 1st and the 31st of January, 2019. Thereafter, the declaration will be made every quarter. So, this month will be crucial for  collaborative platforms which offer an intermediary service between owners and tourist tenants in Spain.  The Treasury is being very pro-active on this. The obligation is on individuals, companies and collaborative platforms that mediate in the assignment of use and are considered as service providers of the information society, regardless of whether or not (1) they provide the underlying service object of intermediation or (2) of the imposition of conditions with respect to the assignors or assignees of the service in relation to it, such as price, insurance, terms or other contractual conditions. So, it is an information obligation on those platforms which connect owners and tenants through online means for them to make the tax calculation work easier. The information to be provided in model 179 includes: a) Identification of the owner or owners of the dwelling, of the owner of the right by virtue of which the dwelling is assigned (if it is different from the owner of the dwelling) and of the assignees or entities. b) Identification of the property (complete address) with specification of the cadastral reference, in case it was assigned. c) Number of days of enjoyment of the house for tourist purposes. d) Amount received, as the case may be, by the assigning owner of the use of the dwelling. e) Contract number by virtue of which the intermediate declarant in the assignment of use of the dwelling. f) Date of beginning of the assignment. g) Intermediation date in the operation. h) Identification of the means of payment used (transfer, credit or debit card or other means of payment). The Decree has been brought to the Supreme Court as some collaborative platforms consider that the obligations included there exceed what is necessary and proportional and are an administrative burden to some business models, which is also against both national and European regulations. The National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC) has also required the Government to modify or reduce the requirements of the Royal Decree that impose unnecessary and disproportionate effects to competition in the market. The Spanish Association of Tax Advisers (Aedaf), has also filed a complaint against the normative text. Official source: https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=BOE-A-2018-7152