The design of the new tax on financial entities provides for an extraordinary bonus for entities that see their profitability compromised by this charge, which taxes interest and commission margins. This is what the text approved last week by the Congress of Deputies states and which is now The bill is currently being processed in the Senate.the details of which were published yesterday in the bulletin of the Cortes Generales, consulted by elEconomista.es.
The parliamentary groups introduced into the bill aimed at establishing a global minimum rate of 15% for large groups and multinationals, an additional ninth provision which shaped the new tax on the interest margin and commissions of financial entities operating in Spain. And its twelve articles reserved the possibility of applying an extraordinary deduction to companies which had a profitability indicator less than 0.7%. This reference will be calculated by dividing the accounting result of the tax period (without the tax-related charge) by the total assets available to the entity at the end of the year and multiplying everything by 100, in accordance with the explanation. of the law.
This profitability index will then be used to calculate bonus percentage and the amount the entity must ultimately pay. The rule includes another formula, whereby the subtraction of one minus the quotient of the profitability indicator between 0.7 is multiplied by 100 and the reduction is determined to be applied to the amount that was to be paid initially (the liquid quota). For example, if a company is defined as having a profitability index of 0.6% in 2024 (first year where the discount rate will be applied if the treatment is completed before the end of the year), it could benefit from a deduction of 15% of the total that you had to pay for this tax, without this amount being negative.
This is a possibility that is not existed in the temporary privilege applied to the banking sector since 2022, when it was launched amid the price crisis resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine and did not exist for energy entities either. Furthermore, it should be noted that the liquidity quota will already benefit from a 25% reduction in what is contributed to corporate tax or non-resident income tax, as reflected in the aforementioned bill.
The new configuration responds to the negotiations carried out by the Ministry of Finance with Junts and the PNV to save the reduced tax reform introduced in the same bill. These groups have agreed to transform it into a tax that will be in force for at least three years, which will allow it to be agreed with the provincial regions and in the Basque Country or Navarre to set their own bonus rates or criteria, as the reports this newspaper. . These terms will be discussed in a joint committee in which both levels of government are present, and for which no date has yet been set, pending final parliamentary support.
The agreed model includes a scale ranging from 1% to 7% according to the liquidable base, after the maximum tranche of 6% marked by the Executive’s proposal in the negotiations with ERC, EH Bildu and BNG was increased by one point, as explained by the left nationalist groups in a press release. In this way, the bases below 750 million euros will bear a rate of 1%, those that exceed this threshold, of 3.5% up to 1,500 million euros, where it will be 4.8% until to 3,000 million where it rises to 6% and from the base 5 billion to 7%.
This Tuesday, the Senate table evaluated the bill that goes to the Finance Commission, where the groups They have one week to present amendments and veto the proposals (until December 4) since it has been classified as urgent and is being processed by the accelerated route. The PP should use its majority in this chamber to impose a veto which should then be lifted in the Congress of Deputies by an absolute majority (176 votes) if it does so within two months of the veto or by a simple majority. once after the expiration of this period. However, it seems that this will not constitute a disadvantage for the government beyond the deadline, given that it would be enough to maintain the 178 votes in favor that the text received a week ago. For this reason, it is hoped that the times will be balanced to close the process before the end of the year and apply the rate in 2024.
Profits will be reduced from 2025
This year has been a record for financial entities that have benefited from the European Central Bank’s policy of increasing interest rates, which reached the highest level in the last 20 years. However, the downward trend that began in June, the first in eight years, already suggests a deterioration of profits of companies in the banking sector from 2025. This scenario is expected to continue in the coming years, so the 2026 results will also be lightened while the new rate will be extended, given that the bill provides that it will be applied “in the first three consecutive years”. periods beginning January 1, 2024.”
Banco Santander and Unicaja have already announced that they will appeal the rate, as they did with the temporary levy. While the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) and the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks (CECA) published a statement on the same day of its approval in which they warn of the legal uncertainty it creates, which represents a drag on the country’s competitiveness in comparison. to the rest of the European environment and reiterated their determination to take legal action. According to the design described, it will be the large entities which will bear a greater penalty on their interest and commission margin. Specifically, Caixabank, Santander and BBVA, according to the 2023 estimate.
