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Resolution of 28 December 2018, of the Directorate General for Taxes on the treatment of vouchers in the Value Added Tax

Resolución de 28 de diciembre de 2018,

de la Dirección General de Tributos, sobre el tratamiento de los bonos en el Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido.

Council Directive (EU) 2016/1065 of 27 June 2016 amended Directive 2006/112/EC establishing common rules regarding the taxation regime in VAT of the so-called vouchers in all Member States of the European Union, this being applicable for those issued after 31 December 2018, notwithstanding the validity of the interpretation adopted by Member States.　

The DGT anticipated the new criteria about taxation on the VAT of the vouchers by means of binding tax rulings that amended the criteria set forth above, as the of 26 October 2016, number V4588-16. However, given that some elements necessary to determine accurate taxation on VAT of these vouchers were not established in the Directive, and with the purpose of reinforcing the legal security and greater dissemination of them, the Resolution of 28 December 2018, of the Directorate General for Taxes was published in the Official State Gazette on 31 December 2018.

  1. In section First is defined as:

    • "Single-purpose voucher" being one in which the territory of application of the tax where the underlying transaction and the applicable tax rate shall be subject or, where applicable, that the transaction is exempt from VAT at the time of their issue is known with certainty.

    • "Multi-purpose voucher" being one in which it is not known with certainty if the transaction is understood to have been carried out within or outside the territory of application of the tax at the time of issue, or if it will be taxed at different tax rates.

  2. In sections Second (taxation of univalent bonds) and Third (taxation of multipurpose bonds) establishes the necessary elements to precisely determine the VAT taxation in the territory of application of the tax, of the transmission of these bonds by an entrepreneur or professional acting in his or her own name or acting in the name and on behalf of another entrepreneur. Likewise, it also establishes the manner of determining the gross taxable base, cases where the VAT on an invoice must be passed on, the applicable rate, the time of accrual and the deductibility of input VAT.