The producer Mediaprocontrolled by the Chinese group Orient Hontai and who pulled suddenly Jaume Roures Late last year, she joined the big Ibex companies in demanding from the Treasury the money irregularly paid into the public coffers for corporation tax, following a change in the rule approved by the former minister. Cristóbal Montoro in 2016. The decision of the Constitutional Court last January declaring null This change by Montoro has triggered a wave of claims from companies to the Treasury, which has already had to return 778 million euros – the figure is published by the Tax Agency -.
This amount will increase as the resolutions of the claims are published. In the case of Mediapro, which he now chairs alone Tatxo Benetalready separated from its former partner Roures, the cost to the Treasury could reach 42.5 million euros. This is the figure calculated by the producer who will recover for the extra money paid in corporate tax after the Montoro reform in 2016 – the law changed to collect more and deal with the severe economic crisis.
Montoro modified several aspects of the corporate tax in 2016 to limit deductions of this rate to companies and increase public collection. Among others, the establishment of stricter limits for the compensation of negative tax bases. Following a complaint by Globalia, the Constitutional Court ruled last January that these modifications were unconstitutional and declared them null and void.
In order to limit its impact on public coffers, the Constitutional Court limited appeals to companies that had already filed a complaint before the ruling. This is what Mediapro had done for the years 2016 to 2019 and 2022.
The consequence is that, although there is still no definitive resolution to these claims, the Spanish-Chinese production company estimates that it can recover up to 42.5 million euros. “The study carried out to determine this amount has led to the recognition of a recovery of credits for tax deficits in the amount of 42,506 million euros in the consolidated income statement as of December 31, 2023,” explains the firm.
In 2023, Mediapro recorded a net profit of just over 12 million euros, for a turnover of 1,204 million. The claim on the Treasury therefore represents almost four times its 2023 profit – in 2022, it recorded losses of almost 70 million euros.
The fiasco of Montoro Law This will have an impact that some experts estimate at up to 10 billion euros. For now, until July 31Five months after the publication in the BOE of the Constitutional Court’s ruling in February, the impact of Montoro’s decision on public coffers is 778 million euros, as the Tax Agency admits in its latest report.
Companies such as Telefónica, Iberia, BBVA, Banco Sabadell or Merlin Properties, among others on the Ibex, have also already reported the recovery of hundreds of millions of euros thanks to the ruling of the Constitutional Court and the Montoro Error. But many people did not file a claim before the judgment and lost this money to public coffers.
This decision by the former minister will allow Mediapro to improve its financial situation, which declares long-term debts of more than 500 million euros. Mediapro is in a new phase after the dismissal of Roures and his departure from the shareholding – he owned 5% that he sold to the Chinese fund – under the direction of Benet. The two former partners have distanced themselves and Benet sold his 50% stake in the digital newspaper for one euro Public in Roures, as reported by this newspaper.
