e-Commerce in Spain
The Spanish regulations apply to any e-Commerce operation involving buyers in Spain. These regulations apply to online sales, advertising, standard terms of contracts, electronic signatures, data protection, and intellectual and industrial property.
e-Commerce tax issues are complex: since the vendor/provider is often located outside of Spain, sales can't be regulated from a unilateral Spanish perspective. Perhaps for that reason, the Spanish tax authorities have not adopted unilateral measures, preferring to wait until a consensus is reached on the measures to be adopted regionally and even worldwide.
If your company plans to sell goods in Spain via an e-Commerce website, please contact us to ensure that your plans are compliant with Spanish regulations.
If your company plans to sell goods in various EU countries, please read our page about MOSS.
FAQs:
I plan to sell online in Spain. Do I charge Spanish VAT tax?
Why is Spain a good choice for e-commerce companies?
Links:
Sample contracts
OECD report on e-commerce Discusses e-commerce direct tax and establishment issues, such as the legal status of income coming from e-commerce, the transfer pricing problem between companies that belong to the same group, and the application of the "place-of-effective-management" rule.
Articles:
Government compliance in Spain
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- you are established in Spain and the recipient is an individual in the EU or a business in Spain.
- you are established outside the EU selling to individuals in Spain. There is a minimum value of the transaction, under which the delivery is exempt from VAT. As of 2017, products shipped with a value under 22€ are exempt from VAT.
- you are established within the EU selling to individuals in Spain and the total annual sales in Spain have exceeded 35,000€. Your company may apply the VAT rate of the home country until this threshold is reached. Once reached, Spanish VAT must be applied in the current year and following years, and Spanish VAT declarations must be submitted. When applying Spanish VAT, the invoice should follow the rules for a Spanish invoice, and include the NIF given to the foreign company in Spain. Note that an EU company has the option to apply Spanish VAT instead of their home country's VAT from the start, before 35,000€ is reached. This is a good option for countries where the tax rate is higher than Spain's tax rate.
If you are established outside the EU, you are also required to pay tariffs (arancel). The applicable tariff can vary between 0% and 17%, depending on the type of product you are shipping. All EU countries apply the same tariffs. There is a minimum exemption here also: under 150€, no tariff applies. Normally the postal operator is in charge of paying the taxes and handling the customs work.
If you are an EU company selling to a Spanish company and both companies are VIES-registered, then you do not need to charge VAT.
For further information in English, go to the Agencia Tributaria, select "English", then select "Non resident taxation" on the right.
Note that privacy-of-data laws vary widely between Spain and countries such as the USA or UK.
Why is Spain a good choice for e-commerce companies? If you are an e-commerce company, Spain is a good location for your headquarters. Spain has one of the most developed online filing systems in Europe.Our firm is expert on the application of the laws for e-commerce (Nuevo Capítulo VIII del Título IX de la Ley 37/1992, de 28 de Diciembre del Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido, incorporado por el artículo Veinticuatro de la Ley 53/2002, de 30 de diciembre, de Medidas Fiscales, Administrativas y del Orden Social.)