Hi

As thre are various types off companys that can be registered in Spain i am unsure of what kind of company registration is required in Spain, so that it is possible to be able to deduct various expenses.

Examples

Travel expenses, flights hotels etc
If you renovate a shop, i would want all costs, like new flooring, lighting, plumbing etc to be made deductable.

Also when you have invoices or receipts for these products and lets say the were purchased in Spain, not only would i want
the cost of the merchandise to be deductable but also the VAT charges, that are on the invoices.

Another issue is with purchashing merchandise from other EU countries, the norm is you give your company registartion/Vat
number so that all goods are released without paying the local VAT, so as an example if you purchase merchandise
from Germany or the UK you give your Swedish company/Vat nr and the goods are realeased from German or UK without any
Vat charges.

All feedback much appreciated

Pedro-se - 06 October 2009 08:34 PM

Hi

As thre are various types off companys that can be registered in Spain i am unsure of what kind of company registration is required in Spain, so that it is possible to be able to deduct various expenses.

Examples

Travel expenses, flights hotels etc
If you renovate a shop, i would want all costs, like new flooring, lighting, plumbing etc to be made deductable.

Also when you have invoices or receipts for these products and lets say the were purchased in Spain, not only would i want
the cost of the merchandise to be deductable but also the VAT charges, that are on the invoices.

Another issue is with purchashing merchandise from other EU countries, the norm is you give your company registartion/Vat
number so that all goods are released without paying the local VAT, so as an example if you purchase merchandise
from Germany or the UK you give your Swedish company/Vat nr and the goods are realeased from German or UK without any
Vat charges.

All feedback much appreciated

I cant comment on air fares etc,

but everything else you list is deductable, but there are some quirks you will need to iron out to achieve this, for example, vehicles will need to be registed to the company, and there are different levels for vehicles classed as tourer or commercials,
on the IVA across borders, you will need to register for an intracommunity trading certificate,  which is quite a tortuous process if you dont speak spanish or understand the process, (although you will find most UK companies dont ask for it, but German companies seem to demand a copy before we can import IVA Free, and this is quite expensive as IVA for them is 19%!!

Best advice is to get urself a good english speaking assesoria,

tu

Whatever legal structure you use for your business in Spain will not affect the deductibility of the various expense items you have listed.  A simple “Sociedad Limitada” (“SL”) which costs about 1,100? to establish is the most common corporate structure.  This site has a full description of this and other options.  I had a small business which imported most of its equipment from the UK - I didn’t pay VAT on that but was able to recover the bulk of VAT I paid on my Spanish expenses.

Setting up an S L is considered to be the same as a UK Ltd Co.  In many respects it is but remember to ask your legal adviser about the responsibilities you take on towards employees with an SL.  Always remember to get advice on all aspects of the business, not just letting the tax tail wag the dog!! And this from an independent financial adviser!!

Thanks for the reply

would the same question apply to either of these style of companies below as having an SL involves strickter controls
with funds going in and out, taxes, employment etc and basically a sole trader or CB is all i would like to have as long
as i can import from other EU lands and have goods released without paying that EU lands VAT charges.

Also like is said previously i would want all Spanish invoice & receipts to be able to be deductable, including the IVA charges.

So would i be able to to this with either of these 2 companies below

1 Sole Trader or Sole Proprietor (Empresario Individual or Aut?nomo) in Spain
2 Comunidad de Bienes (C.B.) in Spain