Information on VAT on goods imported into Spain
May 26, 2023
On April 13, the BOE (Official State Gazette) issued the extract of Resolution of April 11, 2023, from the EOI Foundation, F.S.P., approving the call for grants aimed at promoting productivity improvement in small and medium-sized industrial companies through pilot projects for create a four-day work week.
Small and medium-sized companies with legal personality and registered in the corresponding register in Spain, which do not belong to the public sector and operate in the industrial sector.
▪ Carry out the eligible actions, prove them, and meet the requirements.
▪ Collaborate with the verification and control actions, providing any requested documentation.
▪ Ensure that all information and documents presented, from the application to the justification, are accurate and truthful.
▪ Keep complete invoices and all supporting documents for the actions subject to assistance and make them available to the EOI Foundation for four years from the end of the justification period.
▪ Submit to the verification actions that said foundation deems appropriate, providing as much information as is required by the eligible expenses.
▪ Prove at any time that they are up-to-date with their tax and Social Security obligations.
▪ Prove at any time that they have fulfilled the obligation to submit accounts to the Commercial Register.
▪ Provide the activities subject to the grant from workplaces located in Spain and maintain them at least during the entire duration of the four-day work week.
▪ In the event of being unable to carry out the four-day work week for which the grant was awarded, communicate the renunciation of the requested grant at the time the certainty of non-execution occurs and, where applicable, within a maximum period of two months from the granting resolution, proceeding to voluntary return and paying the late interest.
▪ Declare to the granting authority all minimis aid received during the previous two fiscal years and during the current fiscal year, both at the time of submitting the application and during the processing of the procedure.
The following, always without salary reduction:
▪ Employer commitment to reduce the ordinary full-time workday that reflects a minimum 10% reduction in weekly hours. This commitment will be established for a minimum temporary duration of two years, computable from the granting of the aid, and will only affect employees with indefinite full-time contracts.
▪ Employer commitment that the reduction of the ordinary workday carried out in the aforementioned terms will in no case affect the salary payments that legally or conventionally correspond to 100% of the workday.
▪ It must be guaranteed that the number of female participants in the project corresponds to the percentage of gender distribution existing in the entire workforce with indefinite full-time contracts, allowing a deviation of 10%. However, this percentage of female participants may be higher, but not lower.
▪ The proposal for the number of participating employees in the four-day work week made by the company must affect at least a percentage of the company or workplace staff, in these terms based on its size: for companies or workplaces with up to 20 employees, at least 30% of them; if there are between 21 and 249 employees, at least 25%.
▪ Organizational or training measures to optimize the working time to be implemented throughout the duration of the pilot project, which will result in improving the company’s productivity.
▪ Indicators that measure the improvement of the evolution of work productivity in the company or workplace that will be periodically evaluated.
The projects must be subject to agreement with the legal representation of workers prior to applying for aid. In the absence of legal representation, the agreement must be reached with the most representative trade unions of the corresponding sector, company, or through a negotiating commission chosen by the workers.
This agreement will include the proposal for the appointment of members of a monitoring commission for the project by the business party and must be evidenced at the time of application.
▪ Salary costs of the staff affected by the reduction in working hours: expenses that the participating company in the pilot project must bear and in accordance with the description made in the application and in the four-day work week.
▪ Costs of hiring training services related to the optimization of working time of the workers affected by the implementation of the four-day work week.
▪ Costs of hiring external consulting services for the design or redesign of processes affected by the pilot project and directly linked to the production of goods and services of the company, or costs of personnel involved in those same functions.
▪ Expense derived from a report prepared by an auditor, registered in the Official Register of Auditors, whose maximum subsidizable amount may not exceed 1% of the total subsidizable budget of the project.
The eligible expenses of the pilot project must be carried out within a period of twelve months from the day following the granting resolution, except for the expense derived from the audit report, which may be carried out within the period granted for submitting the justifying documentation.
Up to 90% of the eligible budget can be financed (without prejudice to the de minimis regulations, so that a single company cannot receive more than 200,000 euros during the last three fiscal years). For eligible expenses, the maximum amounts will be:
a) For personnel costs affected by the reduction of working hours during the first year:
A maximum subsidizable limit of 150,000 euros is established for personnel costs affected by a reduction in working hours.
b) For training costs: up to 100% of the duly justified expenses.
c) For external collaborations and internal personnel costs: up to 80% of the duly justified expenses.
d) For auditor’s report expenses: up to 100% of the duly justified expenses, taking into account the aforementioned limit.
The deadline is one month after the publication of the summary of the resolution in the BOE, that is, May 15th, 2023 (the 14th is a Sunday).
The applications and all required documentation related to the pilot projects must be submitted electronically through the electronic registry accessible from the electronic headquarters of the EOI Foundation, F.S.P.
The following documentation must be provided: application form, project report, power of attorney of the signatory, proof of tax and social security obligations, annual accounts of the last fiscal year (properly deposited in the Commercial Register) and, if applicable, audit reports, proof of the declaration and settlement of the Corporate Income Tax, documentation related to the legal representation of the staff, and various responsible statements.
The application must be completed electronically using a valid digital certificate compatible with the electronic headquarters of the EOI Foundation, using the means available at http://www.eoi.es.
The application form must be completed and the required documents must be attached. The required documents must be issued by the official competent authority or, if applicable, signed by a valid digital certificate, as specified in the electronic headquarters of the EOI Foundation.
