SPAIN Law and Practice Contributed by: Cristina Alba and José María Rodríguez Hernández, act legal
4.2 Pillar One – Amount A Spain has consistently supported a multilateral solu - tion to the taxation of the digitalised economy within the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework, but Amount A has not yet been implemented in Spain. In practical terms, there are no domestic rules in force that allo - cate taxing rights under Pillar One Amount A. In the meantime, Spain continues to apply its unilater - al Digital Services Tax (DST or Impuesto sobre Deter- minados Servicios Digitales in Spanish), which was introduced as a domestic measure while international negotiations were ongoing, pending an international solution. Accordingly, Spain’s current position can be described as politically supportive of Amount A in principle, but continues to operate under existing domestic rules (including the DST) until a binding multilateral instru - ment enters into force and is implemented. No Spain- specific implementation features or deviations for Amount A are currently in force. 4.3 Pillar Two Spain implemented the global minimum tax with Law 7/2024. This law created a top-up tax system that ensures that large local and multinational groups pay at least 15% in taxes. The regime entered into effect on 22 December 2024 and applies to fiscal years beginning on or after 31 December 2023, subject to certain exceptions. Before this regime entered into effect, the Spanish CIT legislation had previously set a minimum CIT rate of 15% for certain CIT taxpayers as of 1 January 2022. This rate applies to taxpayers (i) whose turnover is more than EUR20 million or (ii) who are taxed under the CIT consolidation regime. 4.4 Specific Features or Deviations of Pillar Two Spain, for its part, has implemented the global mini - mum tax largely in line with the OECD framework and the corresponding EU Directive. The structure is famil - iar, the terminology recognisable, and the mechanics broadly harmonised. However, as often happens when international consensus is incorporated into domestic
law, the universal design develops a subtle national character. • Qualified Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (QDMTT): perhaps the most telling example is Spain’s adop - tion of a QDMTT, formally enacted as the Impuesto complementario nacional . This allows Spain to col - lect more tax locally when Spanish businesses do not meet the minimum effective tax rate threshold. • Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) and Undertaxed Profits Rule (UTPR): both primary and secondary charging mechanisms are now part of domestic law. • Transitional safe harbours: these include CbCR- based relief mechanisms for the first few years of implementation and temporary limits on when UTPR can be used in certain situations. From a technical standpoint, Spain’s rules do not radically depart from the OECD design. But from a practical standpoint, the shift is profound. Compliance under Pillar Two is data-intensive, calculation-heavy, and governance-sensitive. This means that groups within its scope need to start modelling processes at an early stage. 4.5 Digital Services Tax Spain has implemented a specific DST through Law 4/2020. It consists in a 3% indirect tax on certain in- scope digital services, mainly online advertising ser - vices, online intermediation services and the trans - fer of user data generated from digital interfaces. It applies only to large groups meeting the statutory revenue thresholds (both global and Spanish-source thresholds). It entered into force on 16 January 2021 and remains in force. Although it was introduced in the context of the OECD/G20 discussions and presented as an interim domestic measure pending an international solution, Spain continues to apply it in practice
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