Every closing of accounts and respective tax matters requires a detailed review of tax changes and new developments. In Spain, one such change is the modification of the corporate income tax rates, which will also carry over effects to the next years. Accordingly, for tax periods started in 2025, companies with a turnover of less than EUR 1 million will be taxed at 21% for the first EUR 50,000 of the tax base and 22% for the rest, for smaller companies the rate is reduced to 24%. Newly created companies continue to enjoy the reduced tax rate of 15%, with the legal limitations, for example, if the company is part of a corporate group or if the activity is the succession of an activity previously carried out.
However, the most important change affecting this year’s closing of accounts is without a doubt the capitalization reserve. From 2025, the reduction of the tax base increases to 20% and might reach 23%, 26.5% or even 30%, if the company has increased its staff in the same period. However, the reduction in the previous tax base has its limits: in 2025, it rises to 20% or 25%, if the turnover stays below EUR 1 million. Word of practical advice: before paying out dividends or reducing reserves it is advisable to calculate the tax savings which might be lost by doing so.
Corporate groups treated as a single taxable entity (so called grupos en consolidación fiscal) and large companies (turnover of more than EUR 20 billion) continue to be subject to a minimum tax rate of 15% on the adjusted tax base. Likewise, corporate groups treated as a single taxable entity continue to benefit from the temporary application of 50% to compensate losses. Furthermore, for corporate groups with a consolidated turnover of at least EUR 750 million in two of the last four fiscal years, the regulation on the Top-Up Tax already requires the assessment of the exposition to the global minimum tax of 15%.
Regarding the annual accounts, the review must encompass more than just the deadlines for drawing up, approving and filing them. Due to the accounting moratorium (moratoria contable) in force in Spain, the taxpayer is allowed to not consider the losses of 2020 and 2021 for the assessment of the existence of a legal cause for dissolution. Obviously, the moratorium does not affect the obligation of the director to review whether losses in the years after 2021 reduce the equity to less than half of the capital of the company. Furthermore, the new models for the filing of the annual accounts include relevant formal adjustments, such as the IRUS and the adaptation to the CNAE 2025. For this reason, simply copying the accounts filed the year before is not recommended. In addition to this, the financial and annual reports must be prepared with particular care, in order to evaluate circumstances which occurred after the closing of accounts, tax risks and – in big corporate groups – the exposition to the so-called Pillar 2, as they might require specific notes to the accounts. In a nutshell, a good closing of accounts and respective tax matters is not one which simply makes the numbers add up, but one which withstand the scrutiny of the shareholders, auditors, the Commercial Registry and – of course – our tireless Tax Authorities.