Given the difficulties involved in the creation and start-up of new small and medium-sized companies and taking into account that in Spain they are the ones that generate the most employment, there are a series of incentives for their incorporation and specifically this one that applies to corporate tax.
Corporate tax for newly created companies
Reduced tax rate
The tax rate or tax rate is the percentage that multiplied by the taxable base of the tax allows us to obtain the total tax liability. With the tax reform carried out in 2014 in the field of corporate income tax, the tax rate was lowered from 30% in general to the current 25%. However, differentiated rates are established as follows:
- General tax rate: 25%.
Special tax rates, of which the following stand out:
- Newly created entities (except those that must pay tax at a lower rate) that carry out economic activities will have a reduced tax rate of 15% in the first year in which their taxable income is positive and in the following year.
- Tax-sheltered cooperatives: 20%.
- Non-profit entities applying the tax regime provided for in Law 49/2002: 10%.
- Real estate investment companies and real estate investment funds, provided that the number of shareholders or participants is at least 100 and their sole purpose is to invest in any type of urban property for rental: 1%.
Requirements for applying the reduced rate
Article 29 of the Corporate Income Tax Act establishes that companies may apply the reduced rate provided that they meet the following requirements:
- The entity is newly created.
- It carries out economic activities.
There is no maximum possible turnover or minimum number of employees, i.e., the company benefiting from this incentive does not have to be a small entity.
Exceptions to the application of the reduced rate
The reduced rate will not be applicable in the following cases:
- When the company has no activity or, even if it does have an activity, it is considered an asset-holding company.
- If the economic activity of the company had already been carried out previously by other related persons or entities, and has been transferred, by any legal title, to the newly created entity.
- When the economic activity had been carried out during the year prior to the incorporation of the company by a natural person holding more than 50% of the company’s capital.